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"On a juniper in Thule 

A thrush sings low, 
I shall some day win to Thule 

As I found the Land of Woe.' 

— [ German Tramp Song.] 



SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION 



UTGARD 

Embodying Sundry Notes of 
a Wanderjahr on Hyper- 
borean Shores 



BY 
LARS PORSENNA SOLSNESS 



BOSTON. 
Intercolonial Publishing Co. 



^ 






COPYRIGHTED, 1911, BY THE 
INTERCOLONIAL PUBLISHING CO. 



Printed by Publishers' Printing Corporation, 27 Beach Street, 
Boston, Mass. 






©CLA237304 








Inscribed to Agnes Helen 
Marie, Princess of Royal 
Utgard Blood. AAA 





Preface. 



As much has been written of late by 
appreciative travellers in parts de- 
scribed in this little volume, it has been 
my aim, to exclude from its pages all 
such details as by necessity form the 
bulk of most books of travel in order 
to dwell more particularly on sundry 
features of special interest. 

It is but little realized in our fever- 
ish days what potent agencies of moral 
and political uplift there have come to 
mankind from the high North. i * Three 
times," says Professor Alexander 
Bugge, "has the poetry of Norway 
conquered the world. First, the Eddie 
songs; then, the Sagas; and lately the 



writings of Ibsen and Bjornson." To 
these might be added another world- 
moving force from the same source, 
viz. : the Norman influence, without 
which individual rights would even in 
our times be an unknown quantity. 

As these Northmen of to-day are as 
virile of mind as they are proverbially 
generous of heart, it is not beyond the 
most short-sighted of visionaries to 
foretell even greater things to follow. 

It is on a fringe of this rare Earth 
and on its sombre, uncontaminated in- 
habitants, that these flickering rays of 
searchlight are cast in hopes of arous- 
ing a more general interest in both on 
the part of American travellers. 

L. P. S. 



Steamer Chair Studies. 



"To dream a bright, fleeting, 
midsummer night's . dream — 
among our mountains or out 
by the sea." — Henrik Ibsen. 

It is into the coves and fjords of the 
old time Viking sea-rovers that these 
considerations take their way. For 
there — in all fitness of things — Nature 
displays singular powers. Forbidding 
of aspect, no doubt, as this region is on 
first sight, it wins us ultimately by rea- 
son of its congenial, effusive inhab- 
itants as well as by its extraordinary 
and unforgettable natural impressive- 
ness. 

What on the map in Baedeker ap- 
pears like a convulsive interlocking of 
alternate arms of sea and land, mani- 
fests itself to the observer on the 



12 UTGARD. 

steamer's deck as an endless array of 
desolate, dun-colored necks and head- 
lands, — a tangle of frowning, precipi- 
tous masses of rock separated by a cor- 
responding confusion of narrow sounds, 
fjords and channels. 

Seaward of this prodigious maze, lies 
impregnable natural defences block- 
ading the coast for about a thousand 
miles, — the multiple chain of innumer- 
able islands, shoals, reefs and skerries. 

The first thought that comes to the 
stranger within these gates of rock is 
of the nigh inconceivable fact that 
there should be in this world to-day a 
race so bold as to establish their homes 
on these perilous, foam-drenched crags. 
In passing we learn that modern Vi- 
kings not only cherish these ancestral 
ledges, but that they even succeed in 
getting perhaps more out of life than 
is the lot of average mortals. 

Looking down the bright vistas of 
Norse mythology, the source of much 
present-day literary inspiration, we find 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 13 

at the time the mortal gods of Val- 
halla rose out of the yawning void of 
the Ginunga-chasm the mention of an 
"outermost inhabitable border," where 
dwelled a race of huge-limbed giants, 
the Jotners. These Jotners were a con- 
stant irritation and source of worry to 
their gods. These "rocks that hemmed 
in the ocean" were given the name of 
"Utgard." Here they fancied lived 
Loki, who learned treachery from the 
sea. This Utgard-Loki, to revenge 
himself on his fellow deities who ill- 
treated him, left the following accursed 
brood. His daughter Hela reigned 
over the damned in misty Niflheim; 
the Fenris-wolf typifies desolation; 
while the dreaded Mid-Earth serpent 
ominously encircles the Heimskringla, 
the home of the living. 

To a strongly mythopoeic mentality 
such as that of the pagan Norse, these 
gloomy creations must have easily sug- 
gested themselves here in this gro- 
tesque coast-landscape. 



14 UTGARD. 

Astern, as we pick our way carefully 
northward along the sheltered inner 
led, lies the quaint, old Hansa-city 
Bergen. In the presence of settling 
gloom, one regrets having parted with 
the effable, unctuous Bergenese. One 
loves to reflect on the odd contrast of 
the busy harbor, Vaagen, and the lazy 
life on the central square, the Torvet, 
with its sprinkle of red-bodiced, v/hite- 
hooded peasant women and Strils — that 
indomitable and mysterious race of 
Norse-Kelts, which seems to serve a 
double purpose, viz., supplying fish to 
the citizens and a target for the inces- 
sent jeers and gibes of the loungers 
about the city Billingsgate, the Nedre 
Torvet — both with the same lazy, 
cheerful demeanor. 

But what lends a character of refined 
mediaevalism to the Bergen streets is 
the rubicund, smiling, high-hatted 
trader in cod and herring, who is 
neither too busy nor too proud to walk 
between his counting-house and his 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 15 

residence and to stop and chat with 
people on the way. It is he forsooth 
that has "argosies on India' ' yet no 
Shylock in the realm would dare insin- 
uate that his means were thereby "in 
supposition. ' ' 

It was once a Bergen ship-monger 
who said to his son home from the Uni- 
versity: "You are too gifted, my boy, 
to throw yourself away on Juris- 
prudence or the Ministry. You may 
develop talents of a skipper," which 
runs quite contrary to the general sen- 
timent in the premises, especially in 
Norway. 



A ship library is an admirable insti- 
tution in these parts, where one soon 
tires of looking at the bizarre scenery. 
The sameness of the scene cannot help 
but weary. 

The birch, firs and spruce which grow 
so profusely in the inland valleys ap- 
pear here only in the cracks and crev- 
asses and consequently as caricatures. 
A stiff crop of heather, indomitable as 
the people itself, is nibbled here and 
there by equally invincible goats that 
scan us disdainfully — as it were — in 
passing. 

The dominant impression one carries 
with him below to one's dreams at the 
end of each dismal day's journey — and 
into future reflections — is that of rocks 
and water, — an endless inferno of dark 
precipitous rocks and agitated, swash- 
ing, green-blue water. 

At the entrance to Nordf jord lies the 



18 UTGARD. 

Bremanger island. On its North-east 
corner rises the Hornellen Mountain, 
a wall of blue rock, three thousand 
feet. 

This ' ' Smalsarhorn ' ' of the Sagas 
was visited by King Olaf about the 
year 1000. No mountain in" Lochlin M 
is more worthy of the lines of Ossian. 
Were it not that it gives rise to no 
river except possibly in case of deluge, 
we might have reason to believe it to 
be the Gormal of the ancient Keltic 
bard. He describes it in a storm such 
as only he can: "Abrupt rises Gormal 
in snow. The tempest rolls dark on 
his sides, but calm above his vast fore- 
head appears. White-issuing, from the 
skirts of his storms, the troubled tor- 
rents pour down his sides. Joining as 
they roar along, they bear Torno in 
foam to the main. His shaggy brow 
waves dark above his gathered rage." 

Our ship describes a semicircle about 
the base of this mountain. The captain 
causes the ship's whistles to be blown 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 19 

sharply, resulting in a startling series 
of long-continued, tumultuous echoes. 
A swarm of sea-gulls and some eagles, 
frightened from their resting places 
high up in the rock, — soared out over 
our heads, circled about for a time to 
return ultimately reassured to their 
nests. As we estimated from the echoes 
and found later to be true the summit 
of the mountain extended a consider- 
able distance above the clouds. 

Between the Bremanger island and 
the Rungsundoe, the sea boils and 
froths. The captain informs us these 
are the narrows through which the 
tidewater is drawn into or emptied out 
of the extensive basin of the Nordf jord, 
to which fact the phenomenon is due. 
The swiftness of the current requires 
special care lest the ship is drawn 
against the rocks. 

As we proceed northward the coun- 
try appears very extraordinary. Large, 
fleeing clouds at times obscure the 
contracted view of the sky between the 



20 UTGARD. 

mountain-tops. A weird light enhances 
the effect and adds mysticism to the un- 
usual shifting panorama. 

As we approach Cape Stadt, the 
breeze over our port is augmented to a 
gale. This is the breaking of worse 
news to come, — for soon we shall be 
forced into the open Atlantic through 
a break in the chain of islands. Noc- 
turnal sea-birds flock shriekingly land- 
wards. These are Petrels, so called af- 
ter St. Peter from their appearance of 
walking over the waves. Gloom and 
desolation increases with each mile put 
behind us. The sea is white. Fisher- 
men's cottages are less in evidence and 
appear to be more wanting in those lit- 
tle trifles that go to make home happy. 

On the sides of the cliffs, in the crev- 
ices and scaurs, huge shadows sit in 
the twilight like trolls or dragons, grim 
of form and unfriendly and vengeful 
of mien, waiting to pounce upon the 
reckless intruder. 

Westward, the islands get smaller, 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 21 

flatter and fewer, in the teeth of the 
driving gale. In the hard but effective 
school of many knocks, these commin- 
uted bits of Norseland have had their 
pride extracted. They look frightened 
and discouraged as compared with the 
bold peaks eastward. However, as a 
brood of Mother Norway they are not 
being treated step-motherly. It is 
among these, the most ill-used of her 
children, that she stretches her rocky 
arms most tenderly and protectingly. 



At Ulfsvaag we plunge suddenly into 
the tempestuous ocean. High up on 
the mesa of Cape Stadt, hence fully ex- 
posed to the inclemency of the elements, 
— stands a lonely bonder home. Its 
little windows spy over the sea north, 
west and south. It impreses one that 
it must be a melancholy, lonely exist- 
ence, to be thus constantly face to face 
with nothing but blank, limitless water. 
And yet, the occupants of the weather- 
beaten gard likely look at it different- 

Steamers we pass lurch heavily, ex- 
posing occasionally the black keel 
gradually from stem to stern. Many 
passengers are apprehensive. Only a 
company of ubiquitous English tourists 
are in high glee. They are determined 
to weather it out above deck. The in- 
trepid young ladies of the company 
strap themselves to the hand-rails on 



24 UTGARD. 

the sheltered side of the companion- 
way. It is Britannia ruling the ocean. 
As the company stands in line singing 
or shouting to make themselves heard 
above the roar of the tempest, they are 
forced in turn, or it may be several at 
a time, to venture on risky excursions 
to the star-board rail, there to make 
spontaneous offerings to the angry sea- 
god, immediately, however, to resume 
their former positions. 

Waxed mighty in their course from 
far-off Greenland and the Polar seas, 
the waves appear like good-sized moun- 
tain ridges. Ground-break, we are told 
by the crew, frequently takes place 
here at over sixty feet. Our ship pur- 
sues a course just outside the choppy 
belt nearest the rocks where ponderous, 
tergiversant masses of water jostle one- 
another madly. South-westward the 
sea resembles an extensive tented camp, 
with parallel "company streets,' ' each 
irregular line of dark-blue " canvas' ' 
emitting twisted, white, wind-tossed 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 25 

"smoke" at the crest. 

On our right, the impassive rocks re- 
ceive the dashing masses with relent- 
less fortitude. It is a spectacular 
drama that thrills. Inorganic Nature 
is in tumultuous abandon. It is a dis- 
sipation with outlay of tremendous 
energy. With whatever amount of 
passionate vehemence the coast de- 
fences are bombarded, with that same 
degree of calm determination is the 
assault met on the part of the cliffs. 

The human mind feels a kinship with 
these elements at war, yet the rumble 
of the breakers and the tossing of the 
ship fills one's heart with dread and 
dismay. The sea as well as the at- 
mosphere observes a sinister rhyt- 
micality. When for a moment there is 
a cessation of shrill wailing through 
the rigging, the hoarse panting of the 
forces at work sounds like the guttural 
rattle of exhausted fighters. The lines 
of Goethe come to mind: 
"Welch ein schauspiel; 



26 UTGARD. 

Aber, ach, ein schauspiel nur, — 
Wo fass ich dich unendliche natur?" 

Occasionally a wave seems endowed 
with greater ambition than its fellows. 
It moves on the shoulders of the others 
and consequently reaches higher up the 
slanting brow of the rock. There, un- 
der the jagged edge of the heather, it 
curies and strains in many covetous 
tongues. For one brief moment it dis- 
obeys the law of gravitation. Then 
losing their entity and form, the tongues 
coalesce with others of their kind, flat- 
ten and fall — first on those nearest, 
thence vanquished and spent the de- 
scent is rapid to the foot of the cliffs, 
where they moan and wail unheard, 
undergoing final death and dissolution 
among the cold, impassionate base 
rocks. But the atoms of the dead are 
carried to where they are needed to 
perpetuate the process, completing the 
cycle by supplying energy to waves in 
the making. 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 27 

In the vernacular this is called Bren- 
ning, from its resemblance to a roar- 
ing fire. 



The relentlessness of the waves and 
the shore rocks is inwardly reflected in 
the lives of the hardy race that inhabit 
both; a relentlessness, not only as to 
others but to themselves as well. Ib- 
sen's drama " Brand", the scene of 
which is laid in these parts, portrays 
this character very forcibly. From the 
dawn of their history, conflict is the 
key-note of their lives. In the same 
image is made the naive conception of 
the constantly raging world-war be- 
tween the Utgard-giants and the Val- 
halla gods. The only national glory 
to the Norse of old as well as their 
private enjoyment was war. It was 
ushered in with merriment as among 



30 UTGARD. 

the American Indians. The god of war, 
Woden, was also the god of poetry. 
Fighting was the delight of the Ein- 
herjars while in the flesh as well as 
their happiness after death. Just as a 
parsimonious nature never ceases to re- 
fuse yielding a sustenance without a 
struggle, so there is in the lives of these 
coast dwellers no duke otium leading 
to physical and moral decay. The sway 
of the Valhalla gods outlasted the sen- 
suous deities of Olymp over a thousand 
years, because the Aasgard deities kept 
constantly fighting, if not with the Jot- 
ners, then surely among themselves. 

Conflict among the Norse, was not al- 
ways of their own choice, but a contin- 
gency forced upon them and was 
strangely devoid of the tragic. Living 
scattered on their islands and never 
united otherwise than by a nominal 
government, whereof they knew but 
little, and for which they cared less, the 
men of Utgard grew for centuries used 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 31 

to act by themselves independently and 
were usually a failure as a gregarious 
entity. 



At Vanelvegap we enter the interest- 
ing province of Sondmore and once 
more push forward in our circuitous, 
zigzag route in the friendly shelter of a 
thousand islands. Sundered and torn 
as Sondmore looks with its fjords and 
sounds, it was by no means ever a neg- 
ligible fringe of Viking-land. Hence 
came that odd product of a dawning 
civilization, the poet Ivar Aasen, and 
set his mark on the intellectuality of the 
nation. Writing in his crude peasant 
tongue he produced much that is good. 
The chaos and confusion of tongues that 
at present divide the land into two op- 
posing camps, those for and those 
agairust the general adoption of this 



34 UTGARD. 

peasant language, — is not to be alto- 
gether charged to him. 

There is a fresh, stimulating odor of 
the sea and of dessieated kelp and 
wrack as we glide along. The dog- 
headed kobbe, a specie of dolphins, 
raise their dripping faces out of the 
water to look at us, plunging back into 
their briny element with many frolic- 
some movements. 

From this same Sondmore another 
Utgard giant sallied forth long ago to 
set the stamp of these parts indelibly 
upon the following chapters of world 
history. That was Rollo — of such large 
frame that no horse could carry him and 
hence was named the Walker. It seems 
odd that these islands should be the 
Bethlehem of the world's political 
liberties. Yet, hence came the fathers 
of those bold and upright men who 
wrested for good the scepter from Ty- 
ranny at Runnymede. These parts were 
the "officina gentium" the "Northern 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 35 

hive" and the "Manufactory of na- 
tions' ' of mediaeval writers, who, judg- 
ing from the never-ceasing streams of 
Vikings flocking southward, thought 
these coasts thickly populated. 

It was, however, not willingly that 
IJollo exchanged his birthright of Vik- 
ing chieftain for the position of sov- 
erign prince of the better half of 
France. By King Harold's decree he 
was outlawed. Rollo's father was the 
influential Earl Eagnvald of the island 
of Vigra, which was pointed out to us 
by the captain some distance to the 
west of our course. This Ragnvald of 
More was the king's best friend in the 
entire realm, on which fact it is possi- 
ble that Rollo relied for escaping the 
consequences of his merely technical 
wrong-doings. Says Snorre, the Viking 
historian : 

' . . . Now, King Harold was feast- 
ing at Mere, at Earl Ragnvald 's, and 
had now gotten under him all the land 
(of Norway). So King Harold took a 



36 UTGARD. 

bath and then let his hair be combed 
and then Ragnvald sheared it. And 
heretofore it had been uncombed and 
unsheared for ten winters. Aforetime 
he had been called Harold Luva (or 
Lurva) that is the Shock-headed. But 
now Earl Ragnvald gave him a by- 
name and called him Haarf ager, that is 
fair-haired, and all who saw him said 
it was a most proper name, for he had 
most plentious hair and goodly." 

At all events, this was before pull 
tempered the decrees of princes and 
magistrates. It is said that Rollo's 
mother, Hild, travelled the several 
hundred miles, and mostly afoot — to 
the king's gard to plead her wayward 
son's cause. With the relentlessness of 
the Northern rocks, wind and frost, the 
king was uncompromising and refused 
to cancel or modify his orders with 
reference to Rollo, his great debt to 
Earl Ragnvald notwithstanding. 

Quote Hild: 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 37 

"It is a hazardous game 
"With such a wolf to grapple. 
Why so severe, O Master?" 

Rollo was not the man a warring 
chieftain, loose in the saddle, would 
ordinarily let go. However, straight as 
flies the crow, Rollo and his men sailed 
to the Hebrides, and thence to Northern 
France. What Julius Caesar and his 
legions failed to accomplish, after eight 
years' trial, viz., subdue the Galls, 
Rollo and his men did forthwith. There 
is one episode in this connection which 
is interesting as it goes to show the 
in-born disrespect of Vikings for es- 
tablished customs, as well as their aver- 
sion for pomp and ceremonies. Still 
one finds in Norway examples of the 
same refreshing spirit of moral fear- 
lessness and independence. 

During the negotiations leading to 
the Peace of Claire-en-Epte in the year 
912, it was suggested that Rollo, in 
accordance with feudal custom should 
acknowledge his vassalage under the 



38 UTGARD. 

king of France by kissing the latter 's 
foot. Now feudalism, that institution 
of inequality and unrighteousness, 
never reached Norway. Nor did the 
Viking chieftains want to hear of it. 
Rollo objected to the kissing-scene 
strenuously. His pride as a Norseman 
forbade it. "Never," quoth he, "will 
I bend my knees before the knees of 
any, and I will kiss the foot of none." 
Saying this, his men gave their assent 
by shouting defiantly at the French, 
calling them many ribald names, which 
the French likely did not understand 
the exact meaning of. After diverse 
unsuccessful attempts to settle the mat- 
ter, it was suggested that the kissing be 
done by proxy. Thereupon at the ap- 
pointed time and in the presence of the 
court retinue, a brawny Viking strode 
up to where the king stood, but instead 
of kneeling, he grasped the king's foot 
and raised it to his bearded lips with 
the obvious consequence that the mon- 
arch sprawled on the ground, sans 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 39 

facon and sans ceremonie. The Sond- 
morers in glee sent forth a great shout 
of laughter. 

Contrary to one 's expectation, the in- 
cident mentioned seems not to have 
marred the occasion much if any. Af- 
ter the French king had dusted his taf- 
feta doublet, he accepted Rollo as his 
dutiful son-in-law and ally. 

The second duke of Normandy was 
Rollo 's son William Longsword, killed 
by Arnulf of Flanders; the third, 
Richard the Fearless. " These Norman 
dukes possessed eminently all the qual- 
ities characterizing heroes, — bravery, 
liberality, generousness and justice." 
Nor did they lack pride. 

It was Robert the Magnificent, the 
sixth duke, while visiting the emperor 
at Constantinople, who remarked to the 
imperial court attendants: "Take it 
away. A mantle that has touched the 
ground is not fit to cover the shoulders 
of a Norman." The most ambitious of 
all the Norman dukes was William who 



40 UTGARD. 

beat the English at Hastings in 1066 
and whose descendant in the 28th gen- 
eration is King George V of England. 
Norman influence reached America, 
which it wrenched from degenerate 
Latins. 

William the Conqueror just before 
the battle of Hastings addressed his 
army of adventurers as follows : 

"By the splendor of God, did you 
not, you and your ancestors, capture 
the king of the French and imprison 
him at Rouen till he restored Normandy 
to the boy Richard, your duke, on the 
express condition that in every inter- 
view between the French king and the 
Norman duke, the latter should be 
girded with a sword, and the former 
present himself without a sword or 
even a dagger?" 

A scourge as the Vikings were to 
mediaeval Europe, they were neces- 
sary and their influence was ul- 
timately in the interest of peace, order 
and civilization. Nor were they per- 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 41 

haps as rapaceous and avaricious as 
described by some historians. Thus, 
when Rollo in Friesland had taken 
prisoner the Count Eainier, he was of- 
fered all the gold possessed by his wife. 
He returned half of the gold and sur- 
rendered the count. 

The following is interesting as show- 
ing the system maintained by these 
breviloquent Vikings in the matter of 
their internal relations. 

As Rollo and his men made their 
famous dash in the direction of Paris 
they were met by Hastings, or Hastinec, 
another Viking, who addressed them as 
follows : 

"Valliant warriors, whence come ye! 
What seek ye here ? What is the name 
of your lord and master ? ' ' 

Said Rollo, "We be Norsemen, and 
all be equally masters amongst us. We 
be come to drive out the inhabitants of 
this land and to subject it as our own 
country ; but who art thou who speakest 
so glibly ?" 



42 UTGARD. 

"I am Hastinec you have heard of. 
Will ye yield to King Charles ?" 

"We yield," was Rollo's answer, "to 
none. All that we shall take by our 
arms we shall keep as our right. Go 
and tell this if thou willst to the king, 
whose envoy thou boastest to be." 

Glorious as appear to us the lives 
of these Norman chieftains, they were 
at the same time not without their 
quota of Norse disruptive discord. Thus 
Henry the Second, the tenth duke of 
Normandy and King of England, whose 
life had been a constant war with his 
sons, was an especial victim of family 
hatred. " Shame/ ' said he, "shame 
and hishonor on a vanquished king. 
Cursed be the day of my birth. Cursed 
the sons I leave behind me. ' ' Nor could 
prayers and entreaties on the part of 
his ministers of religion induce him to 
retract his maledictions. He died in 
1198 of a broken heart. Though the 
most powerful of European princes of 
his day, reigning over England, Ireland 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 43 

and the better half of France, his body, 
after death, was treated with the same 
neglect and indignity as was that of 
William the Conqueror. There was dif- 
ficulty in finding anybody willing to 
wrap the royal corpse in a winding- 
sheet. 

Some assistants wished, it is true, to 
cover the body with the royal insignia, 
but the guardians of the royal treasury 
would not permit the expense therewith 
connected. All that was valuable was 
plundered by marauding nobles and 
servants. The most urgent supplica- 
tion could only produce a damaged 
sceptre and a ring of small price. In- 
stead of a crown his head was covered 
with gold tinsel taken from a woman's 
dress, and in this humble and gro- 
tesque style we are told, " Henry Plan- 
tagenet, or Broomcorn, son of Jeoffry, 
King of England, Duke of Normandy, 
Aquitaine, Brittany, Count of Maine 
and Anjou, and Lord of Tours and Am- 
boise — descended to his grave." 



44 UTGARD. 

All Christian rulers of the world to- 
day are descendants of Rollo of Vigra. 
Some of his children remained at home 
in Sondmore, as did his brothers Toi'e 
Hallad, Einar, Rollaug and others. Hal- 
lad later won the Orkneys from other 
Vikings and settled there for good, as 
he was on bad terms with his father, 
the Earl Ragnvald. A prolific race, as 
these people are, the cousins of the 
rulers of Europe are very numerous to- 
day in Sondmore, a cousinship which 
the bold, blue-eyed Utgarder will tell 
you he is not the least proud of. 

In the meantime our ship has pro- 
ceeded out of the vicinity of historic 
Vigra, the heart of erstwhile Nor- 
mandy. 



Utgard has its poets and writers of 
to-day. Of these, particularly one, 
Jacob Hilditch, grasps its true spirit 
in the following : 

6 ' These grey skerries and holms with 
their sounds and channels — with their 
placid waters back of them — with their 
green plains, their weeping-birch under 
the mountains and their little red 
cabins — possess a surprising power over 
the minds of certain people. Even if it 
is only for a single time that you pass 
by, you will never forget them. They 
will reach you and attract you in that 
picture you summon up, when once far 
away you close your eyes for a minute 
tc shut out new environs, to dwell once 



46 UTGARD. 

more in this wonderland of the lofty 
North. 

' * But the one that has lived his child- 
hood and early youth here,— ^-he is at a 

certain disadvantage if he migrates, — 
because he can never forget these same 
grey skerries and holms. There is such 
a thing as that a few minds lit with a 
spirit of unrest and a craving for some- 
thing greater than what these parts af- 
ford — rush into the world. Years pass. 
It may be that they are on the verge of 
being swept into the bottomless stream 
of human sewerage, — that they suffer 
injury to their souls. What saves, per- 
haps the last minute, is the placid home 
bay, — the little, wind-twisted cottage 
under the weeping-birch, — the lines of 
islands in the distance — the sun setting 
back of the craggs, — the string of little 
cottages that smile toward you, reflect- 
ing the sunset with their uneven panes, 
— and the handful of little, tarred boats 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 47 

clearing out their nets of an evening 
hour. 

"Try to forget them, if you will. It 
comes to this that one day you return 
even if it is only for a glance at the old 
loved scene. Then, if you after some 
days at the old homestead think you 
have a fill of it and storm out again 
with oaths on your lips or in your 
heart, you may lock your rudder and 
nail your sails to the mast, — verily the 
grey skerries and the red cottages will 
smile mockingly back of you as you de- 
part. The water of the sounds, fjords 
and channels will curl itself into a grin 
back of you, because you will come 
back. 

"Come poor, wrecked, discouraged, 
or come proud and happy with foreign 
gold in your pockets, — you will find a 
day when you cannot tear yourself 
loose. Before you realize it you will be 
back again and belong once more and 
for good among these skerries. 

"By this time you will not wonder 



48 UTGARD. 

why the old fisherman Korsvik returned 
from Sumatra, where during the best 
part of his life he was a well-to-do 
foreman of a plantation. Nor will you 
think it queer that Tobias Sundet re- 
turned here from America where he 
was a merchant and notary public. Nor 
will you ask why Borre Tareviken, — 
now the poorest of the fishermen, 
quitted the guilded yacht of the English 
lord about ten years ago, even though 
it is reported that he was his lordship's 
special favorite, that he had been in his 
service over fifteen years and knew 
that his old age would be comfortably 
cared for. 

"In the little, grey house on the lee 
side of the Swartholm lived Andrew 
Markhus. Now he is dead. He died 
early last fall. To be sure there was 
such a storm on the day of his funeral 
that the four floral tributes and the 
tarpaulin were blown off the casket 
and into the sea as his body was rowed 
over in the face of the storm to the 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 49 

cemetery across the sound. He lived 
there many years with his sister. To 
maintain himself he carried on a sort 
of deep-sea fishery for lobsters and 
crabs. As he had the best of boats and 
tackle he was very successful. Most 
people remember when he returned 
home fifteen years ago, and a few there 
may be who remember his going away 
as a youth. He went away with pride 
and self-assurance galore. He had to 
get out in the world and wanted to get 
rich. It was known that he won both 
riches and a good name in distant 
Brazil. But one day he came back and 
provided himself with boats and 
tackle. He became as busy a fisherman 
as there ever was in these parts. He 
drove closer bargains than most fisher- 
men had a habit of doing with the 
buyers. In the course of a little time 
the rumor of his riches were forgotten 
and he became known only as " the 
Swart-holm fisherman.' ' 

"One day last fall, when he suspected 



50 UTGARD. 

that he did not have long to live he 
made a confidante of his sister. 

" 'Things are not a-going right with 
me/ said he, 'I was to have re- 
turned home long ago, Anne Lena. It 
was meant that I was to pay a short 
visit to my old home. I should have 
returned long ago . . . .' 

" 'How can that be, my dear 
Andrew,' said the sister, 'it is now fif- 
teen years since you came back.' 

' ' He lay where he could look over the 
grey skerries with his old, running 
eyes. 

" ' I let it go from day to day. I can 
hardly understand it. At first I thought 
of little else, but could not tear myself 
loose. Later I forgot about it. I was 
called Andro Marco and had a house in 
Bahia. I have people that await me, I 
have connections . . . .' 

"After the funeral, Anne Lena en- 
gaged lawyers to look up the matter of 
her brother's property in Bahia. In 
due time the tidings came of there be- 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 51 

ing a rich Mrs. Marco who some years 
earlier had spent large sums advertis- 
ing for her husband, Andro Marco from 
Norway. ' * 



In sheltered ledges stand the little, 
cozy houses of the Sondmore fishermen* 
looking down cheerfully on the watery 
ways and the wayfarers. There are 
school-houses and an occasional white- 
painted church. Around the church a 
few acres are laid out for a graveyard 
which is usually but poorly patronized 
for reasons of its own. The man of Ut- 
gard is wedded to the sea — for the 
better or the worse. Two-faced and 
treacherous though it be, it is still his 
life partner, whom he is unhappy with- 
out. In its cool depths it holds his an- 
cestors, as he expects it one day will 
hold him. Not in the least given to sen- 
timentality on this account, the man 



54 UTGARD. 

who appears as if sprung from the 
unpolished rock — reasons in his 
own practical way that Davy 
Jones is no worse a nurse than 
grim Mother Plague and much less 
particular about shrouds and things of 
that sort. The ceremony is short and 
there is nothing black or sinister to 
impress painfully the eye of surviving 
relatives and neighbors. Besides, old 
Davy Jones never sends a bill for 
funeral expenses to the widow. Some 
fishermen neighbors find the little fer- 
ring keel up some day — and that is alL 
In the meantime the Sondmorer pur- 
sues with grim cheerfulness the herring 
and the cod, toppling over the waves 
on his "beam's ends" — or in blank 
tranquility pulls the oars, as the case 
might be. In either instance he sits on 
his thwart and hums some inward 
Norse melody — perhaps a psalm. He 
never acts hurriedly. I have observed 
him in a storm when his boat is swept 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. Oi> 

form its med and in an incredulously 
short time appears like a mere speck 
on the horizon, — when the whistling, 
unsteady wind flaps the sails in his 
strong grasp; — or when he is far out 
westward of all skerries on the Blue 
Moor the Skjella, or freaky westward 
wind, threatens to blow him into the 
great body of the Atlantic; — when 
his little open boat constructed of thin, 
tarred pine boards writhes and quivers 
in the clutches of unfriendly elements 
and minutes seem like torturing hours 
and days, — never does he hurry, never 
acts in confusion. What he attempts 
to do he does effectively. These bromide 
qualities he has inherited from the sea. 
For the indolent or the weak there is 
no place in these parts of Utgard. The 
wants of these people are easily sup- 
plied and it is a poor market for fineries 
in raiment or food. A weak tenure 
of life has produced greater virtue and 
indirectly healthier bodies and minds. 



56 UTGARD. 

Patches of gardens between the rocks 
display beds of Easter-lilies, blue- 
gentian, daffodils, violets and roses. 
Little fields tell of careful nursing by 
feminine hands, for the men, when not 
in their boats are busy curing their fish 
or mending their nets and tackle on the 
beach or in the spaceous boat houses. 
To real dangers an active mind adds 
fancied pictures full of terror. By the 
evening firesides fearsome yarns are 
told and retold with telling modula- 
tions and gestures of the Krake, Droug, 
ghosts and the devil. The Droug ap- 
pears as an ignis fatuus, as told by 
Jonas Lie — to men doomed to death in 
storms at sea. It takes on the form of 
a mocking, close reflection of the soon- 
to-be disastrous condition of the victim 
of a catastrophe, his boat and crew. In 
his phantom boat the Droug sails be- 
sides the doomed man in the same 
clothes and with the same crew. The 
ghost stories are fraught with the same 
dread. Told by mothers while waiting 



STEAMER CHAIR STUDIES. 57 

for the return of their husbands from 
the sea, as the wind howls about the 
corners of the house and down the 
chimney and the hearth-fire casts flick- 
ering shadows along the walls, the lit- 
tle-ones huddle together closely in their 
apprehension of evil. 

It is at night that the dead that died 
at sea, on the herring banks, get uneasy 
in their wet graves and stalk landwards 
in great numbers, — like the combers 
one sees at night under the pale moon 
rolling landwards pursued by a gentle 
breeze. It appears that their quondam 
love for home and kin has been alien- 
ated by some mysterious agency since 
death, for, as they dash over the little 
cottages which were theirs while they 
lived they howl angrily down the chim- 
neys, — or their bloated, livid faces are 
seen peering suspiciously in at the little 
windows. Their wanton shrieks are 
heard above the wailing of the wind, or 
they rattle and shake the windows and 
doors and, when the family is asleep, 



58 UTGARD. 

flit through the rooms and blow their 
chilly breaths on the faces of the sleep- 
ing. 



Thus lives and dies the modern Nor- 
man, a rock-ribbed, Vulcan-hearted 
race and the marrow and bone of his 
nation. The roar of the waves is his 
lullaby, his wedding-march and dirge. 
He possesses the gifts of the Norns to 
still hear in the Brenning or murmur- 
ing surges of Utgard an echo of the 
wild battle-songs of the Einherjars of 
eld — urging him constantly on. It may 
be faint and moody as when the ocean 
is red under the setting sun and the 
sea-birds hum in chorus on the shore 
rocks, — or it may be heard as a terrible 
roar that fills the plateaus and valleys 
of the hinterland, clear to the capital 
and the Swedish border. 

The men of Sondmore obey this call. 



Molde. 



Around her little harbor lies Molde 
the picturesque. From her charming 
situation on gently rising ground, she 
looks the impressive panorama of the 
snow-capped Eomsdal alps on the other 
side of the land-locked fjord — straight 
in the face. 

There is one matter of which the old- 
fashioned little place is even more 
proud than of her popularity as a resort 
for English tourists, — she is the college- 
town of Bjornson. What are claimed 
to be his "jack-knife-carved initials' ' 
are pointed out to the stranger with no 
end of pride on the part of her 



62 UTGARD. 

burghers, as are the once sepulchral 
class-rooms in the yellow, old Latin 
Skole, now turned into a tenement 
house, where the embryo poet received 
his first lessons in Latin, French and 
German. English is not thought enough 
of by Norse educational authorities to 
bo given a place on the curriculum of 
their colleges, except in the case of a 
mere practical, short course. However, 
both Ibsen and Bjornson found it essen- 
tial to acquire a reading and speaking- 
knowledge of English later in their 
careers, the superficiality of which is 
shown in Ibsen's works in such barbar- 
isms as "Master Cotton" for Mister 
Cotton, and " werry well", the last in 
the first edition of Peer Gynt. 

As one might easily expect by reason 
of his magnificent physique and extra- 
ordinary talents, the poet made heavy 
inroads into the hearts of the Molde 
maidens in his youth. 

Facing a corner of the torvet, or 
public mart and steamboat quay, stands 



MOLDE. 63 

a ramshackle building with the letter 
"H" carved on its five closed wooden 
shutters. In its state of decay, yet with 
sundry signs of indubitable, quondam 
grandure, it suggests to mind the 
haughty-poor individual, who has seen 
better days and yet is not aware of the 
fact that his presence may give pain to 
such ' 'friends' ' as once were proud of 
his company. The house seems to muse 
— like Diogenes in the sun — with closed 
lids, disdaining to look at the more 
modern buildings round it. 

This is the ancient mansion of the 

H ks, a family of sea-captains as 

far back as the oldest Molde citizen can 
remember having been told about 
them. In front of the house their state- 
ly full-riggers used to swing at anchor 
of yore when not sailing the high-seas 
to or from " Spain and India/ ' 

It is told softly by the sentimental 
Moldese that to this house the poet 
used to come daily for reasons not to 
be discussed lightly. 



64 UTGARD. 

In the rooms facing the large orchard 
and away from the torvet lives yet, or 

until recently, Marie H k, the 

"rare and ancient maiden." Tall and 
slender and still with traces of beauty, 
she is said to cherish in her voluntary 
solitude the tenderest memories of the 
world-poet. 

The atmosphere of Molde is especially 
literary. Rigged out in high hats, 
English walking coats and with canes, 
the members of the "klubben", the 
cream of its masculine society and in- 
telligence, may be seen of an afternoon 
promenading along the shady roads 
leading in the direction of the charming 
suburbs, Reknes or Moldegard. They 
are for the most part fine-looking, high- 
browed men. They saunter along in 
groups in the middle of the roadway 
and in a leisurely manner. It is all so 
typically Pickwickian. 



A proclamation had gone forth from 
the hand of the Dux of the graduating 
class of the Latin Skole that according 
to ancient custom, the Bragir-gilde or 
festival in honor of the pagan Norse 
god of poetry, should be duly observed 
in Bragir's grove at the top of the 
Varden mountain, back of the city. One 
of these curious proclamations came, 
evidently intentionally on part of the 
Dux, into my possession. 

After a good hour's strenuous climb- 
ing along well-trod paths through the 
pine forest, we arrived at length at the 
Varden, or Cairn. From here the view 
is exceptional. Westward some twenty 



66 UTGARD. 

miles we beheld once more the ocean. 
To the south lay the grand-scenic 
Molde-fjord, dotted with pine-covered 
islands. The tranquil mirror of the 
water reflected the white peaks and 
green strands of the landscape beyond. 
Immediately below nestled the little 
city in holiday attire, the bay harboring 
a respectable fleet of small craft with 
an occasional liner or dismantled hull of 
condemned large vessel. Over the 
warehouses of massive proportions that 
lined the water's edge, hung immovably 
-scores of large national flags. Still 
nearer appeared the white walls, red 
roofs and flower gardens of the village 
residential portion, well warranting the 
great poet's epithet of "Flowery Bor- 
ough." It was poetic Molde looking 
her best. 

The celebrations were held in the 
open, under the pines near the fjeld 
hytte or mountain-cabin. While it 
was free for all Academicians, a com- 
mittee looked to that only such were 



MOLDE. 67 

present. Undesirables were escorted 
a suitable distance down the mountain 
side under guard. The gilde proper 
was celebrated with oratory, song and 
revival of the lost art of improvisation. 
There was display of keen analy- 
tical mentality; spontaneous out- 
bursts of bold fancy and intricately 
woven mental fabrics. Later were 
brought out from the recesses of the 
cabin, smoking bowls of punch and 
placed on improvised tables. Around 
these the students gathered with some 
of the more liberal professors, glass in 
hand. From a celebration to the deity 
of Poetry, the scene was changed to 
one Bacchanalian. On a bowlder at the 
centre of the group of tables stood the 
Magister Bibendi, or drinking-master. 
There were no chairs. Everybody was 
enthusiastic and many of the students 
quite noisy. Skaals were proposed and 
drunk to each of the professors present, 
who thereby braved the criticism of 
the plebs. 



68 UTGARD. 

As the gilde proceeded, students were 
seen to stray around the rocks arm in 
arm, in pairs or in groups as they be- 
came united for some literary or politi- 
cal cause. They were mostly manly 
fellows with clean-cut faces, dressed in 
the height of fashion. A small quota 
of them talked the broad dialect of 
Aasen and Vinje. These had the promi- 
nent cheek-bones indicating peasant 
stock, and appeared quieter. Only in 
intellect were they fully equal with the 
rest. There were those who would orate 
ad infinitum with great zest and much 
earnestness on political issues of the 
realm, their friends and party-fellows 
shouting continuously "hear, hear." 
But there were few, if any, given to 
listening. 

Late in the celebrations one of the 
students ascended the speaker's rock 
and proposed a skaal "to the King and 
the Fatherland." This was evidently 
the signal for the republicans to wake 
up. They gathered as swiftly as possi- 



MOLDE. 69 

ble in their condition from all parts of 
the grove and pushing forward to the 
rostrum vociferated sufficiently to 
drown the words of the speaker. A song 
was sung by the republicans which had 
a thousand verses to the tune of "God 
save the king." But the words were 
as follows: 

"This is the very first verse, 
Next comes the second verse, 
All join and sing : — 
Gummi Arabicum, Gummi Elasticum, 
Gummi Arabicum and Elasticum. 

That was the very first verse, 
This is the second verse, 
All join and sing: — 
Gummi Arabicum, etc. 



Historic Helgoe. 

Where the Romsdal fjord expands 
and divides in its three branches — lies 
Helgoe island, sacred in memory. 

The dashing little boats of the More 
Dampskibsselskab plying on the Long- 
Fjord route will land you in its neigh- 
borhood after about an hour's journey 
out of Molde. This gives you the ad- 
vantage of a detailed perspective at 
close range of the Romsdal alps to the 
South, that sombre line of blue-coated 
white-capped sentinels guarding the 
gate of this Northern paradise. The 
eye wanders in pleasant bewilderment 
between the towering stretches of rock 



72 UTGARD. 

high up, the ominous pine forest im- 
mediately below and the picturesque, 
haying bonders and their alluring 
villa-farms nestling close to the water's 
edge. 

To the Romsdal bonder — for reasons 
to be described — Helgoe is not so much 
an island as it is an institution. Nor, 
is it an institution as institutions go, 
but one of the kind that stands close 
to his heart yet is forever passing and 
hence has just begun to live on as a 
^aga. And the Norse heart is fond of 
sagas. 

At Molde I was joined by my friend 
Mr. Dunwood, who after and in conse- 
quence of an automobile-accident near 
tihristiania had spent some enforced 
"weeks at a hospital there, and had 
journeyed overland by way of the 
'Gudbrandsdal valley. We were drift- 
ing about like flotsam of the sea in the 
neighborhood of Molde, leading a life 
of joyous vegetation, when our first 
attention was called to Helgoe by some 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 73 

fishermen my friend sketched. Evi- 
dently there had been some strange 
happenings at Helgoe, of some sort. 
Only the rumors were fractional, gos- 
samery and uttered with an air of 
mysticism. There was some mention 
of "The old man at Helgoe.' ' Our 
solicitations for further light on the 
matter were met with evasion, or on 
the part of the wiser heads were 
treated as an absurdity. Yet, this is 
how we first learned of Helgoe. 

But, as to Helgoe, there was evident- 
ly a lack of substantial information on 
the part of these bonders, or for some 
reason they were adverse to discussing 
it with strangers. 

Therefore, rousing ourselves, we set 
out to investigate conditions at Helgoe 
for ourselves with appetites whetted 
for discovery and romance. And that 
is how we came to spend many happy 
days at Helgoe. 

How lavish nature is in certain 
parts of Utgard, as if to make up for 



74 UTGARD. 

its stinginess in others. Yet, the 
unstinted prodigality of delights of 
the eye is coupled with a jealous mean- 
ness in the matter of affording susten- 
ance of physical life. 

And now that I am about to relate 
our experience at Helgoe, necessitating 
the lifting of a fold of the veil of cen- 
turies that rests over the place, I fear 
I lay myself liable to the ancient Vik- 
ing charge of being a " Varg in Veum", 
that is, a "wolf in the temple/ ' But, 
as it is that fear of any kind does not 
thrive well in Norse air, unless it be 
the Fear of the Lord, I shall continue 
my account. The incidences shall be 
recorded as they occurred, while trying 
to conserve their atmosphere with- 
out which they would lack some of 
their raison d'etre. I shall likewise 
hand them over unwrapped of their 
adnascent psychic integuments, redicu- 
lous, no doubt, as such things seem to 
most of us. Such matters follow their 
own laws, which for the most part per- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 75 

haps we do not understand, as in the 
old German legend of the Elf -king: — 



'Mein sohn, wie birgst du so bang dein 

gesicht?" 
'Siest, vater, du den Erlkoenig nicht?" 



To be exact — as is the custom in 
matters where one expects not to be 
taken seriously — we found Helgoe 
less than a marine league from the 
fast-land or continent. That is on 
the South. In other directions 
the distance is greater, yet the 
mountains rise to such a height that 
the surrounding coast looks quite near. 
Immense Cyclopian temples, they rise 
in places abruptly from out of the 
water and hem in the valley, giving 
the fjord the appearance of an inland 
lake. 

On a large map, Helgoe appears 
dumb-bell-shaped : the grip representing 



78 UTGARD. 

low-lying cultivated land and the two 
knobs pine-clad knolls. 

In a central position on the culti- 
vated land stands the impressive old 
church — dating from the twelfth cen- 
tury — with its white-plastered walls 
and its single black tower. A little to 
the North of it, a complexity of mould- 
ering yellow, white or red buildings, 
still with evidences of some preten- 
tiousness — represents the ancient par- 
sonage proper. Clustering about these 
a chaos of smaller buildings for various 
intents and purposes, but mostly in the 
same state of decay, gives the whole 
the appearance of a weird hamlet. The 
harmoniously austere tone of archi- 
tecture and the evident avoidance of 
exterior embellishment is strictly in 
keeping with the faith and life of the 
Utgard bonders. Outward expression 
of joy or sorrow, architecturally or 
otherwise, including sorrowing at 
funerals by the bereft, — is not seen as 
£. rule in rural districts in Norway. 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 79 

In the direction of the bays that al- 
most bisect the island, — to the west 
stretches a luxurious garden, re- 
plete with flowering shrubs and 
shade trees, while to the east 
lies the extensive ancient cemetery. 
Around this latter, crumbling, moss- 
grown boulders form a defective fence. 
Wide, sanded driveways connect the 
ancient pile with the bays, cutting 
through the cemetery, where quaint 
white, wooden arches — without gates — 
are the boldest attempt at decora- 
tive art on the island. In the 
bays, wide sandy beaches are flanked 
with a number of white, red or yellow 
boathouses, representing an equal num- 
ber of the more prosperous bonder 
gards. 

Over the whole — what impresses 
one most at Helgoe — stately, towering 
ash-trees and lindens, standing in close, 
intersecting avenues, shed a sweet, 
soothing twilight which enhances the 
fascinating weirdness. Beyond the 



80 UTGARD. 

graveyard with its forest of bristling, 
grey, wooden crosses, are waving 
meadows and rye-fields reaching close 
down to the white sands of the beach 
and up the gently slanting rise to 
where they are skirted by the dark 
pines. 

The history of Helgoe, as recorded 
by Rev. Tubring and found in the 
parish library, discloses little partic- 
ularly unusual. 

Up to the time Olaf christianized the 
realm with fire and sword in the 11th 
century, it had been a hov, sacred to 
the Valhalla deities. It goes on to ex- 
plain that "due to the inherent ten- 
acity of the populace in matters of 
faith" it likely was some time after 
Olaf 's death in 1030 that the bonders 
of Romsdal gave up the sign of Thor's 
hammer for that of the cross. In the 
next century it was the site of a town 
of considerable commercial and 
strategic importance, maintaining in 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 81 

all five churches besides the present 
one, the Fylkis-church. 

Huge, wrought iron ciphers high up 
on the west wall of the church indicate 
the year 1203. It is thought that this 
marks not its erection, but its restaura- 
tion. 

When and through what calamity 
the ancient city of Helgoe disappeared 
history does not tell us. "We are left 
to surmise that the Bubonic plague 
which harried the land in the four- 
teenth century bears a causative rela- 
tion thereto. 

In the Saga of Magnus Erlingson, as 
told by immortal Snorre, we read of 
the battle of Helgoe in the year 1162 
between King Hakon and the pretender 
Erling the Skakke. To us this is of 
interest only as showing the odd 
ways of these Norsemen engaged in in- 
ternecine wars. The battle would be 
divided into acts and scenes like the 
classical drama. They began by chop- 
ping away lustily at one another. If 



82 UTGARD. 

somebody shouted "time" they would 
then sit down and chat together in a 
friendly manner, remarking on the 
weather and perhaps treat one-another 
tc horns of mead until they were again 
ordered to resume battle. Those were 
the days it was fashionable for young 
Vikings to " sponge' ' on Southern 
rulers, especially the Emperor at Mick- 
lagard (Constantinople), receiving 
concessions in permission to plunder 
sections of Mediteranean coast. Both 
the Russian and Greek emperors were 
considered easy in the estimation of 
the 11th and 12th century Vikings, 
whose confessed friendship kept the 
bloody hordes of Blaakomen, Bulgars, 
Pecinei, and Valachians from overrun- 
ning eastern countries. At these im- 
perial courts, Norsemen rested up to 
afterwards meet other Norsemen at 
home or abroad in bloody fray, that 
was when real valor was put to the 
test: when Norse met Norse. 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 83 

Snorre's account of the Battle of 
Helgoe is as follows: — 

' ' Then the battle-blast was sounded 
for all (of Haakon's) men to fare to 
their ships. It was meal-time. All the 
men (left their play-ground and) ran 
to the ships ; each to the one that was 
nearest to him so that the ships there- 
by were manned unevenly. Some rais- 
ing the masts, while others pulled oars, 
the ships were headed north-east to 
Helgoe, where they expected succor 
from the townspeople. Thereupon they 
saw the sails of Erling's vessels (com- 
ing from Bergen), and each fleet soon 
had a chance to have a good look at 
the other. Eindride Unge had the ship 
that was called the Draglaun, a great 
'longshippe-busse,' which had few 
people, since they that belonged on it 
had run aboard other ships. Hence it 
was the rearmost of Haakon's ships. 
When Eindride came off the island 
Sekken, Erling's ship, the 'Bokesu- 
den', hove in sight. This Erling him- 



84 UTGARD. 

self steered, and soon these two ships, 
'hung together.' But King Haakon 
had almost reached Helgoe, when he 
heard the blast of the lur-trumpet. The 
ships that now were nearest and 
wished to help Eindride turned about 
and both fleets closed up for battle as 
best they could. Many sails were 
dropped across the ships but no vessel 
was hooked as they lay to, side-by-side. 
This battle did not last long ere the 
positions were changed. On Haakon's 
ships some fell and others jumped over- 
board. The king wrapped himself in 
a grey tunic and jumped over on an- 
other ship, but when he had been there 
a short time he found himself sur- 
rounded by enemies instead of friends. 
Then he entered his own ship from the 
prow of w^hich he asked for grid— 
(peace). But the fighting-men-in-the- 
prows — (stavnboere) — of the enemy's 
ships took him among them and gave 
him grid. 
"Many men fell in this battle and 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 85 

chiefly on Haakon's side. After this 
skirmish there was a rest. Erling 
learned that his enemy was there on 
his ship and that the fighting-men- 
in-the-prow intended to protect him. 
Erling then sent a man (forward) to 
ask of his men that they care for 
Haakon, lest he may fare away, prom- 
ising not to object to his being granted 
'grid', if he should wish it. The men 
in the prow praised Erling for these 
words. 

"After this (friendly parley), Erling 
caused the war-trumpet to be sounded 
loudly for the continuation of the 
battle, — to clear the ships there was 
any doubt about. Then all men gave 
the battle-cry, each side egging the 
other on and finally closed up for battle 
with ribald shouts and taunts. In this 
battle Haakon received his bane. But 
when Haakon's men became aware of 
his fall, they rushed forward, cast 
away their shields and wielded the 
battle-ax with both hands in Berserk 
fashion. This rush soon reacted un- 



86 UTGARD. 

propitiously, as Erling's men thereby 
knew where to aim their sharpest 
blows. Many of Haakon's men fell, 
because fighting men were very numer- 
ous (on the other side), and because 
his men did not shield themselves. 
None of Haakon's men were given per- 
mission to live, except such as were 
protected and paid for by Erling's 
chieftains. The rest were hewn down. 
Some ships escaped into (inner) Roms- 
dal where also Haakon's body was 
taken and earthed." 

Later Haakon's body was removed 
to the great cathedral at Drontheim 
and installed in a massive stone-wall. 

Since those dark and bloody days, 
it is believed the hardy men of Eoms- 
dal ever councilled together in times of 
war or pestilence, and otherwise wor- 
shipped according to the simple tennets 
of an honest faith — at Helgoe. 



It is within the memory of the 
present generation that the govern- 
ment ordered the Helgoe church and 
parsonage permanently vacated, more 
modern structures to take their places 
having been erected on the fast-land. 
One readily surmises this was done in 
order to prevent the numerous casual- 
ties on the fjord mass-days. The 
skjella, or down-mountain wind is 
treacherous and fierce, changing the 
smooth surface of the fjord to an un- 
dulating sheet of foam in an incredu- 
lously short time. Lately the "land- 
roads" have been improved, too, so 
that it is no longer the fjord that is the 



88 UTGARD. 

handiest high-way from gard to gard. 

Save for the presence of the govern- 
ment-paid custodian and his little 
family, Helgoe parsonage was conse- 
quently deserted at the time of our visit. 
To help him garner the heavy crops of 
barley, rye and oats a dozen or more 
husmen— landholders by copy under 
the new parsonage — were for the time 
lodged in the baarstu or servants' hall. 

As is customary in Norway, outside 
the popular tourist centres — and who- 
ever eschews these is wise — we were 
received with the utmost cordiality on 
the part of the custodian, Mr. Dybdal, 
and his little family. It was impossible 
that their heartiness could be anything 
£>ut sincere. Norwegians are a failure 
-at pretentions. One can read their 
feelings ; it is external like in children, 
^When Hans says he wants nothing for 
rowing you in his f erring across the 
Ijord, by which he lets his hay wait in 
the field with a chance of its being 
spoiled by the rain, — even if he in- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 89 

sists — it is plain from his manner that 
he would be painfully disappointed un- 
less he receives a reasonable reimburse- 
ment for his time and sinew. But the 
refusal of reward is very odd to an 
American. It is pleasant to most 
people to be treated like superior be- 
ings, and Hans gets always more than 
he would otherwise receive for his 
services, both parties to the deal being 
happier in conseqence. 

While along the Mediteranean hun- 
gry natives dive for pennies thrown 
by tourists into the sea, these rural 
Northerners have a disregard for lucre 
that is both rediculous and touching. 
Thus, if the weather is threatening and 
our man Hans does not like to "tempt 
his maker' ' by setting out from shore, 
- — there is not enough money in the 
Bank of Norway to buy his services. 
It is a different matter if under the 
same circumstances there is a moral 
point involved, — if he brings medical 
or spiritual aid to those in need of 



90 UTGARD. 

same or reunite the anxious and part- 
ed, then the weather is never too rough 
to keep Hans from launching his skiff. 

This trait he may have inherited 
from his pagan ancestors who believed 
that dying fighting — dying doing some- 
thing worth while — was the swiftest, 
surest and, in fact, only way to blessed 
Valhalla, while such as died inactively, 
in bed, went to the Niflheim of Regrets. 

"We island-dwellers are always glad 
to see people,' ' said Mr. Dybdal, "and 
especially Americans, they are such 
rare birds ; except returning emigrants, 
cf course, of which we have many. " 

As we soon learned, Mr. Dybdal was 
something of an American himself, 
having spent a year or more at the 
agricultural colleges of some western 
state universities. He holds the degree 
and title of "agronom" and is looked 
upon by the peasants to be a wise and 
much-travelled man. 

As I strolled through the garden, 
that ideal place for inducing thoughts 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 91 

of the has-been, — lounging under the 
foliage that proved for the most part 
impervious to the rays of the hot sun — 
his bushy head would be visible, pro- 
jecting over the back of a Turkish 
rocker by the library window. If the 
sashes happened to be flung out door- 
fashion — as custom is in Norway on 
very hot days — it could not escape 
one's ear that the guardian of the 
king's Helgoe was asleep. Except when 
engaged at the throne-end of the dining 
table, where he invariably appeared at 
his best, I seldom remember having 
seen Mr. Dybdal except, as described. 
The awe in which he appeared to be 
held by the peasants rendered him im- 
mune to the faintest attempt at criti- 
cism. It was said that in his regime 
"neither ill-humor nor any other bad 
luck" ventured across the sound to 
Helgoe. 

To have the matter made clear to me 
one day at breakfast I asked whether 
the husmen were faithful employees. 



92 UTGARD. 

"I do not follow the American idea 
in this matter, it would not do here," 
explained Mr. Dybdal. "The fact is," 
he added, "it would be too expensive, 
even if the men would allow of the 
innovation. ' ' 

"Allow it!" echoed my companion, 
shocked at the idea that employees be 
given a voice in the matter of their 
supervision. 

"Well, yes, allow it," repeated the 
custodian. "These men do not want to 
be spied on and bossed. Here every 
man is considered faithful and capa- 
ble until he has shown himself lacking 
in these virtues. When they are tired 
they rest. They may go fishing if they 
choose. That is no loss to anybody. 
You will see none of these men over- 
worked and underfed. In America, — a 
corporation must bear the heavy ex- 
pense of a system of overseers, super- 
intendents, foremen and spies to get 
anything done. I sometimes think this 
system has a bearing on the recurrent 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 93 

hard times or financial crises, as the 
cost of operating even a small manu- 
facturing plant thereby is greatly in- 
creased. It is, I think, an outgrowth 
of your political system of spoils.' ' 

"Is it not rather a survival of the 
ante bellum methods of handling negro 
slaves ?" suggested Dunny. 

"Whatever it is, it is condemnable, 
because it is not only poor economy 
but also poor humanity," resumed Mr. 
Dybdal. "The peasant of this country 
was never a serf or a bond-man, as the 
same class invariably has been once in 
all other countries. In America you 
tax the laborer for the expenses con- 
nected with having somebody wield 
the whip over his head while at work. 
You could not do it with us. There- 
fore are our emigrants attracted not so 
much to the Eastern cities of America 
as they are to the Western prairies, be- 
cause on the plains they are their own 
masters. There is none to wield the 
knout, as in the city factory. 



94 UTGARD. 

"Most of the degenerates that infect 
the big cities of America, are they not 
descendants of the serfs of southern 
or central Europe? While the Scan- 
dinavians are turning the Western 
American wilderness into a paradise, 
these people are turning the Eastern 
cities into the worst immaginable sort 
of a wilderness. The Norseman never 
feared the whip. It is the Norse 
bonder whose voice is heard defending 
the liberties and free institutions of 
this country in the Storting. It was 
he that caused the abolishment of no- 
bility in the realm back in 1821. Where 
have we another class of farmers like 
ours ? ' ' 

"Were it not they, too, that shouted 
against their kings and pitched them 
into soft bogs of eld?" was asked. 

"Yes, and to-day — if the kings do 
not suit — fire them and hire others to 
do the king-stunt." 

"In all countries but Norway/ ' re- 
sumed the custodian, "there are man- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 95 

sions and castles that by comparison 
make the farmer's modest dwelling 
seem insignificant and lowly. We have 
in Norway no class of aristocratic 
loafers that look down upon the farmer 
and produce an unhealthy, patho- 
genic feeling of inferiority and de- 
pendence in his heart. Like the hard 
Norwegian pine, he has grown free 
from any overshadowing element. We 
have therefore no poorhouses, as a rule, 
and no need of public charity except 
in cases due to accident. 



During our first days at Helgoe, we 
tried in vain to find a reason for link- 
ing Mr. Dybdal to the rumors that 
primarily attracted us to the island. 
On the other hand, he appeared to be 
the very acme of whole-souled good- 
nature, a man of the most robust com- 
mon sense. He seemed possessed of in- 
formation of a vast range. Nor did 
he sway with the current of fleeting 
popular opinion, but sustained a good 
balance by well-grounded personal 
sentiments. 

"You have many great men in Nor- 
way considering the population of the 
country,' ' was the comment of Mr. 



98 UTGARD. 

Dunny one day, when the conversa- 
tion showed a tendency to lag. "In 
the field of literature, in explorations 
and sciences, Norwegians cover far 
more ground than is their percentage 
by population." 

"Yes, and in some respects appre- 
ciative foreigners resemble the whales 
along our coast," replied the redoubt- 
able custodian. 

"In what way?" was asked. 

w Because they blow about Norway. 
We have some men who have won fame 
in various fields, that is true, however. 
Our merchant marine, you have been 
told by people who like to boast, ranks 
above those of most of the great powers 
of the world in both tonnage and in- 
itiative. But, if you ask us why it is 
that we have won fame in the world of 
letters, in explorations and the arts, it 
would no doubt be found that it is 
mainly due to our custom of having 
men teach men. Can you imagine an 
Ibsen, a Bjornson, a Nansen, an 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 99 

Amundsen, etc., to have been 
taught up to young manhood by 
a schoolmadam? Impossible. If 
you visit our schools, which you 
ought to do, you will find a 
man — likely an old man — behind 
the cathedra. These old fellows 
follow their own individual sys- 
tems of teaching. Some have no system 
at all, and these last are possibly the 
most successful in waking the youth, — 
as they are, what you may call too 
great for any system. Most of these 
teachers are philosophers in their way ; 
some are writers and some are poets, 
but nearly all are self-thinkers. I do 
not know if you would approve of their 
teaching, as they do not teach by the 
clock. Their chief merit is in inspiring 
the youth with the ambition that leads 
to honest, patient work, abstinence, 
self-reliance and independence. It 
is not so much the quantity of know- 
ledge crammed down, as it is learning 
to look on the literary value — not the 



100 UTGARD. 

money value — of life that is the chief 
objective point. 

"As with the peasants so with the 
teachers, in the matter of supervision. 
There are no superintendents. 

"A teacher is an autocrat — put 
upon his honor. He is virtually re- 
sponsible to no superiors, although the 
parish prest, by prearranged appoint- 
ment, attends or conducts the exer- 
cises in the presence of the parents 
once a year. Our schoolmaster is hired 
for life — on good behavior — not from 
year to year, as in America." 

"What you say, Mr. Dybdal, is very 
interesting, but I doubt if this plan 
would be practicable in the United 
States,' ' said Dunny. 

"No, there you are right/ ' insisted 
the custodian warmly. "You would 
have the thousands of schoolma'ms 
raise Cain, if you tried to oust them 
from their inherited station in life. 
They would get their friends, relations, 
cousins and aunts to appeal to the law- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 101 

making bodies, composed to a certain 
extent of mush-heads, and soon there 
would be a string of laws making it 
impossible for a male to teach in the 
various states. The praise of the 
ma'am would be sung in every paper, 
the greatness of your admirable nation 
would be attributed to her efforts/ ' 

"I shaJ^ never forget,' ' said the cus- 
todian, "one time I visited a common 
school in Iowa. I had about used up 
my government stipend on which I 
travelled and was about to return home 
when I recollected my former intention 
of seeing the institution of w T hich I had 
heard so much, 'the little red school- 
house' in. action. I found a very pleas- 
ant little woman of about seventeen 
years presiding over an attendance of 
about a score of pupils of different 
ages. I remained for an hour or more 
and found that the teaching was ac- 
cording to a dull, hum-drum sort of 
system, with no attempt at explaining 
the why or wherefore, the good of it, 



102 UTGARD. 

the motif. This could not be expected 
of so young a girl, who did perhaps 
well. I have no criticism to make of 
the teaching, only that it seemed to 
concern altogether the head. The 
heart, as I understood it, was left to 
develop any old way. We talk about 
character. What is it but heart !" 

"The American child is handicapped 
with a language, the spelling and 
special study of which are estimated as 
equal to a loss of two years at school — 
compared with countries having phon- 
etically spelled languages/ ' said 
Dunny, "hence the necessity of a great 
amount of memory work. In your 
country, for instance, there is no neces- 
sity of teaching spelling. The language 
spells by sound. Think of the saving 
to parents, state and municipality!" 

"I had occasion to observe before T 
left that day a matter that impressed 
me very much as a sort of a key to the 
situation/ ' continued the custodian, 
"that the boys were handy with the 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 103 

crochet-needle and the knitting-pins 
during the recesses. The larger boys 
instead of going out to play with the 
other children would remain in the 
schoolroom and wait on the teacher 
and it was but natural that they ac- 
quired these little feminine occupa- 
tions. I am not certain whether they 
learned this during the school hours or 
otherwise for when I asked the teacher 
if this sort of ' manual training' was a 
part of the regular curriculum, she 
blushed and said, ' Course not'. How 
could one expect a seventeen year old 
girl, with a modicum of elementary ed- 
ucation to develop character — to sow 
the seed of a fuller, completer man- 
hood and womanhood — but especially 
manhood — in these young souls? I 
see no good reason why such girls 
should not be employed in teaching 
kindergarten subjects to first year pu- 
pils, but to larger children they are a 
hindrance. What the Norse schools pay 
particular attention to is the imagina- 



104 UTGARD. 

tion and sense of beauty of the child. If 
this is not trained carefully it turns 
into pathologic ruts resulting in de- 
struction me at ally, morally and phys- 
ically in after years. 

"If America spent more for male in- 
structors of boys, in the common 
schools, she would thereby save on her 
departments of justice and charity and 
indirectly on the army and navy, the 
efficiency of which being thereby in- 
creased/ ' persisted the sage of Helgoe. 

"Perhaps you are right/ ' said 
Dunny, "but why not also on hos- 
pitals. In New York city, for instance, 
we are always busy building hospitals. 
We have them as large as small cities, 
— all denominations and nationalities 
liave their own, but the cry is ever for 
more. It seems to me that if we ever 
get enough of them, there will be very 
few people living outside of them. ,, 



Gradually the rumors of the Roms- 
* dal bonders drifted to the background 
of our consciousness, yet we never re- 
gretted the circumstance that brought 
us to Helgoe. 

For the purpose of acquiring the 
Norse language — to read Ibsen in the 
original — Dunny, when not busy 
sketching in some part of the Romsdal 
valley, had put himself under the tu- 
torship of Miss Svava, the beautiful 
and accomplished young daughter of 
our host. A student in a ladies' sem- 
inary in Denmark, she was spending 
her vacation at home. It was said that 
the young lady of many exotic graces 



106 UTGARD. 

was equally anxious to take advantage 
of our stay to perfect herself in col- 
loquial English. Foreseeing much 
loneliness for myself, through this ar- 
rangement and fearing the possibility 
of an "entangling foreign alliance' ' on 
the part of my friend, such as warned 
against by an early American states- 
man, — I tried to prevent this coalition 
on the part of a majority of the polite 
society of Helgoe. Therefore, one day 
after breakfast I suggested a change 
in the professorship. 

"There is the old lady Ogot," said 
I to Dunny, "who served under the 
old parson and who is just dying for 
somebody to talk to. It seems to me 
that you two would profit about 
equally, each by the other's society, 
one discoursing and the other listen- 
ing. "Why not pool issue with her? 
Besides, it is not the best Norse that is 
taught in ladies' seminaries in Den- 
mark. ' ' 

Dunny, who had been brought up in 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 107 

the neighborhood of Fifth avenue, had 
by early necessity acquired a habit of 
side-stepping and circumspection. 

"Your suggestion is excellent, 
brother," said he, "and I shall keep it 
in mind some day when I come to study 
— old-Norsk. " 

The mutual teacher and scholar did 
not sit down to their linguistic consid- 
erations but romped over the fields and 
rocks, a new but not perhaps wholly 
condemnable method. "With consider- 
able loneliness thrust upon me, I em- 
ployed my time in studying the history 
and folk-lore of Utgard, — only occa- 
sionally mixing with the fairly intelli- 
gent yet superstitious peasants. When 
it chanced that I was occupied on the 
highest point of the island, where some 
men from the university had made ex- 
cavations, — studying the archaic 
topography with the help of a work 
by one of these scientists, loaned me by 
the custodian, — it almost invariably 
chanced that I would hear Professor 



108 UTGARD. 

Svava's hearty, girlish laughter from 
some part of the island. 

One morning as they prepared to 
stroll for another lesson, the custodi- 
an's fru, a most refined and interest- 
ing lady of quiet manners, asked 
Dunny if he found the study of Nor- 
wegian very hard. 

" Quite so, my dear fru," came the 
oracle," — but chiefly to my shoes, 
which are assuming the color of your 
shore-rocks." 



Some days as I sat reading in the 
garden, it would chance that the peace 
of the island was disturbed by 
the custodian's blind dog, Karo, get- 
ting up on his hind feet in the kitchen 
and with his front paws in a window, 
emit long, hoarse howls in the direc- 
tion of the cemetery and the east bay. 
At this the husmen would stop at their 
work, shake their heads and turn the 
ever-present quid to the other side, — 
after a moment resuming their task 
in the same easy way without saying 
a word. After some time, a cluster of 
boats would glide noiselessly into the 
bay and a number of bonders in home- 



110 UTGARD. 

spun disembark in front of the boat- 
houses. After a while they would form 
a line and carrying a plain black cas- 
ket among them proceed to the church. 
The bells would chime and after the 
services, the interment take place — by 
special dispensation — in the ancient 
cemetery- A drawling, monotonous 
hymn would be sung, — that same in- 
ward, subjective psalm melody pecu- 
liar to Norse bonders. 

The parson who had come over in 
his naptha launch to officiate before 
the grave reads solemnly from his 
book as he scatters the first few shov- 
elsful of loose earth over the casket — 
ending with the words "Dust to dust, 
and what is bound on Earth shall be 
bound in Heaven/ ' 

It is another volume completed with 
incessant care and with but little 
worldly reward, — now duly "bound" 
and entered in the library of the Lord 
to await the great cataloguer. 



HISTORIC HELGOE. Ill 

"If any says Nirvana is to cease, 
Say unto such they lie-" 

But the bonders do not mourn long 
for the grave-ale is waiting at the 
home of the bereaved and it is not to 
the liking of the family to have the 
"helferd" be anything but as great an 
event as possible. 

Perhaps at midnight, i. e. if the dis- 
tance is not too great, these people are 
as merry as larks over their ale-bowls 
and punch-glasses and at sunrise they 
may be as boisterous as a Dutch pick- 
nick. 

However, of late, this custom has 
been changed somewhat due to the in- 
fluence of temperance societies. 



As I came to know the bonders bet- 
ter, I became greatly attached to them 
by reason of their droll yarns, quaint 
in form and rife in mysticism. Their 
eld shells lit up as they spoke, showing 
that the kernel of childhood enthusi- 
asm was by no means dead within. 

They were accounts of bravery on 
the fjord or the high-mountains, or 
stories of the Hulder, Trolls or ghosts, 
just like in Sondmore, but never of 
love- Some were tedious repetitions 
of published stories, with changed 
scene and atmosphere. As a class they 
represented the flotsam of the deep sea 
of bonder fancy, in keeping with their 
faith and tradition. 

One evening I lingered on the baar- 



114 UTGARD. 

stu lawn, as the husmen chatted to- 
gether after their day's work. I 
passed around a juicy plug of Ameri- 
can tobacco to their delight and asked 
Halvard to tell me something about 
the Helgoe parsons. 

Halvard looked puzzled at my blunt 
request, and seemed at first unwilling 
to talk. Later in the evening, evidently 
anxious to please he volunteered the 
following sample of a Romsdal bond- 
er's tales: 

"In my father's younger days, there 
was a parson on this island that was 
called Canute. The parish was at that 
time not what it is to-day. Hr. Canute 
found the people full of the Evil-One 
and he set about with all his might and 
ingenuity to improve things. He 
moved a great deal among the people 
and called on them when they least 
expected him, as at their rough dances 
their wedding-gildes and their Sunday 
evening carrousals. Yet his manners 
were not such as to cause offense, after 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 115 

they came to know him better and the 
first surprise was over. His presence 
helped to dampen the worst element 
and after the first year or so it was 
unnecessary for Hr. Canute to have 
to resort to the strength of his hard 
fists to command respect. 

"Then the report came noised about 
that the Evil-One had taken up his 
abode in the Helgoe church, where on 
dark nights he bellowed like an ox and 
carried on in an awful fashion. The 
female servants were too frightened 
to venture out of the baarstu to attend 
to the cattle except when well escorted 
by the men. The fall nights, if you 
have never seen them in these parts, 
I wish to say, are extremely dark. 
Later the panic seized even the cattle. 
Thus to the bellowing from the church 
was added the bellowing of upward a 
hundred frightened cattle, so that the 
roar was terrifying to the strongest 
nerve. 

"Hr. Canute waited till the whole 



116 UTGARD. 

parish was paralyzed with fear before 
he would do anything. You know the 
Lord has given the prests power to 
bind Satan and his black angels. I 
kind-of half reckon the whole trouble 
was inaugurated to warn a certain bad 
element in the parish, although, they 
say it was a piece of revenge on the 
part of Mr. Satanas, for Hr. Canute's 
activity against him- 

"Beseeched by the panicky people 
of the parish, Hr. Canute at last de- 
cided to act. On a particular night he 
had three of his stoutest male ser- 
vants accompany him to church. Ar- 
riving there, he opened the door and 
entered, ordering his men to lock the 
door from the outside, when they 
were to go home, but be back and 
lock him out at sun-rise. That night 
began with the usual bellowing but 
it ended for good before sun-rise, 
never to re-occur at Helgoe. As usual, 
Hr. Satanas was outwitted so that he 
never more assumed the form of an ox 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 117 

in this parish. According to orders, 
before the first rays of the morning's 
snn gilded the eastern windows of the 
church, the servants were there and 
opened the big doors for Hr. Canute 
to leave the church. As the doors were 
flung open, there stood Hr. Canute, 
dripping with perspiration and steam- 
ing like a horse that has been driven 
hard in chilly weather. He was almost 
unrecognizable and his clothes were 
in tatters. But what happened in the 
church that night, God only knows. 
Hr. Canute would not tell." 

Halvard had ceased talking in his 
half -saga, half -clerical style. I ob- 
served that it was late and that most 
of the men had already retired to the 
baarstu-sal for the night. A cloud 
passed over the island, producing 
deep twilight. While yet the story 
was discussed by two or three of the 
younger men and myself, somebody's 
presence was noted in the carpenter 
shop, a good stone's throw away, and 



118 UTGARD. 

plainly in sight, I observed on the 
faces of the men that they were 
startled, but, then as at other times, 
I found it to serve my purpose best 
never to appear to be wiser than 
they and said nothing. A board was 
sawed off with strong, regular, rhyt- 
mic strokes, as with great delibera- 
tion, like a strong, trained carpenter 
would do. The rise in the pitch indi- 
cated that the sawyer was reaching 
the completion of his task. A few 
shorter, lighter strokes and the end 
of the board dropped with a bang 
on the floor. There was a pause. Then 
a nail was driven in with the same 
strong, regular, rhytmic strokes. The 
nail was heard to sink deeper into the 
wood with each stroke until at last 
the hammer was heard to bang 
against the wood. I felt chilly, but 
was determined to hold the peasants 
responsible for attempting to presume 
on my credulity. I tried to appear 
indifferent and made some common- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 119* 

place remark, as we dispersed. "Old 
Harry is out early to-night", said one 
of the young men mockingly, which 
remark was received disapprovingly 
by the others. 

I walked to my favorite musing 
place on flag-pole hill, from which 
vantage point I enjoyed a good view 
of the island, the narrowing vistas of 
the fjord and the mountains. 



Below me the fjord's gentle breath- 
ing sent faint undulations romping 
over the white shingle, combing the 
dead sea-weeds into a curved line. In 
places the shore-line would be formed 
by rocks embraced by knarled roots 
of pines, all partly covered with a 
layer of cones. The roots seemed to 
search for water in the cracks of the 
rock, to find it at length in the edge 
of the fjord. Above the high-water 
mark the wrack hung dry and un- 
touched by the waves. At this de- 
bris, an occasional wavelet, bolder 
than its fellows, pointing a mocking, 
daring finger of doubt and inquiry.. 



122 UTGARD. 

Out on the fjord young bonders 
were heard preparing for the night's 
catch by hammering in place on the 
gunnel the vabein or pulleys for haul- 
ing in their long, weighted, deep-sea 
lines. A few prefer to try their luck 
netting. After clearing out their nets, 
these have nothing to do but sit 
story-telling throughout the night, or 
they may sleep away the short hours 
in the bottom of their boats, which 
are tied to the nets that drift with 
the currents of water at any desired 
depth. Their conversations were heard 
floating over the water from distant 
parts with surprising distinctness 

Over the hills and leas lay the lux- 
ury of a mature Northern summer. 
To the south, the mountans reflected 
the splendor of the near-midnight sun 

The glory and power were over- 
whelming. The flowering moss on the 
high-fells present all colors but black, 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 123 

yet for the most part, bronze, maroon, 
violet and pink. The freshness and 
brilliancy of details lit up by the sun- 
light appear through the medium of 
boreal ozone — very striking 

A delicate, redish-blue haze settles 
over the silvery fjord, whereby the 
double lines of shore and reflection 
meeting in distant parts of the Long- 
fjord are slightly obscured. The 
gentle murmer of the cascades of the 
Vick river produces soporific effects 
like monotonous cadences of some old 
time lullaby — — — — — — 

"Here spring the healing streams — 

quenching all thirst ; 
Here bloom the flowers that carpet 

all one's way with joy; 
Here throng the sweetest, swiftest 

hours" 

The sublimity intoxicates like the 
fabled milk of Woden's goats at Val- 



124 UTGARD. 

halla. It was an Englishman came to 
Ormeim near by, and who entered on 
a Jeremiade because of the insufficien- 
cy of adjectives to adequately qualify 
the charms of Romsdal 

Etched into the green of the forest 
and the meadows stand the white or 
red spacious, log-constructed bonders' 
houses. Back of it all, above the forest 
and at a height of up to seven thousand 
feet, are arrayed tapering pinnacles, 
glowing in yellow, white and crimson 

Behold the saffron sunlight linger- 
ing in the peaks, 

As loth to say goodnight it hesi- 
tates, is captured — , 

The dreamy Utgard bonders gleam- 
ing in their vicks — 

And e'en the broad-winged seagulls 
seem enraptured. 

Behold how distant Longfjord ad- 
umbrates and reeks — 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 125 

How fierce the Ox looks in his crim- 
son colors ; — 

The Horn, illumined as from in- 
side, seeks 

To heights not ventured by his al- 
pine followers — — — — — — 



The change of the sky from blue 
to orange and purple indicates the 
beginning of another day. The con- 
stant trance changes one. Mountain 
dwellers ever differed from inhabi- 
tants of the plains 

The mind seeks to project itself 
into the marvelous scene — to float on 
the wings of the gulls that sail grace- 
fully and noiselessly, on steady, 
proudly spread wings ; and to stalk on 
the dizzy heights. An odor of pine, 
juniper or newly mowed hay add to the 
unusual mental effect 

From across the Bondervick, Sva- 
va's laughter breaks the stillness. 
Helgoe is indeed an island of many 



126 UTGARD. 

shrines. One gets used to seeing peo- 
ple turn night into day in these parts, 
— a commendable thing to do under 
the circumstances. On a distant point 
she approaches the parsonage grounds 

A moment later Dunny's head is seen 
over the rocks beyond. She steps 
down to the water's edge, finds a 
small, flat stone and makes it skim — 
deftly and wantonly — over the water. 

After a long line of rapid contacts 
with the shiny surface of the bay, — 
the last closer together and curved 
plume-shape, — the stone at last disap- 
pears from view 

Dunny reaches in the meanwhile 
to where Svava stands, tries the stone- 
trick, but fails. For a moment she 
waits to instruct him, then with a 
swiftness born of young life and 
Norse air, she leaps over the next 
berg homeward, while he starts climb- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 127 

ing after, now and then on all 
fours. They are finally lost to view 
along the path under the birch 
copse near the boat-houses 

Rounding the point where a moment 
before I saw Svava and Dunny, a 
large rowboat appeared, leaving as 
it proceeded a long trenchant wake 
behind it to under the shadows of the 
pines. It was a pleasure party. There 
was merry laughter and the twang of 
mandolins and banjos onboard 

Snatches of songs floated softly over 
the water. I knew the refrain of one: 
"The bonders are sleeping now 
while we 
Sail on pearl-fishery — . ' J 

Half way in the bay, the party 
seemed seized with reverence. The 
oars ceased to stir the water. Voices 
rose tremulously into the song "Hel- 
goe" composed by a school master 



128 UTGARD. 

in a nearby district. The author was 
elected to the Storting, where he 
served his constituents faithfully up 
to his death. 

Dear, old Helgoe isle, 
How sweet o'er the waters you con- 
stantly smile; 
Oh, worshipers' ancient dedicated 

ground, 
Oh, meet-place of bonders from 

island and sound, 
Oh, spot where so many a tear has 

been shed, 
And prayer been said — 

The oars were again dipped in the 
water, and the boat glided out the 
bay. 

As the skiff swung around, I be- 
held an American flag trailing at its 
stern. Evidently the party included 
some returned, visiting, bonder emi- 
grants, the kind one meets with at 
every turn of the road. 

However, it is good to see abroad 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 129 

the flag that stands for substantiation 
of the principle of brotherhood of man 
and justice for all. There are few 
national emblems of which the same 
may be said. The English are proud 
of their Union Jack, yet millions of 
innocent people in India, and all 
other parts of the world have con- 
tributed their heart's blood to its glar- 
ing red. It is insatiable. Wherever 
lust of land or lucre draws it, there is 
hell. And the world stands by and 
nods approval. 

Never did the Stars and Stripes seem 
so beautiful and dear as that night on 
flag-staff hill at Helgoe, and on the im- 
pulse of the moment I stood up and 
cheered the nocturnal visitors and the 
flag, and wafted my hat. The salute was; 
returned with the fluttering of hat& 
and handkerchiefs. 



This is the Romsdal of the poet 
Bjornson, for here he grew to young 
manhood. Prom my vantage point, T 
could see the tops of the hills sur- 
rounding Nesset parish, where his 
father held the modest position of par- 
son, at the end of the the Long-fjord. 
This is the sublime and stimulating 
essence of all his dichtung. It is due to 
him that the Norse of to-day are a sing- 
ing people. On the high-fells, in their 
fishing boats, or in their struggle for 
life at home, every man, woman or 
child old enough to talk — sings. 
There is a song by him for every vo- 
cation, every trial, every mood, age 



132 UTGARD. 

or season which strengthens and up- 
holds. And yet this noblest Utgard- 
ehieftain of them all loved war, not in 
itself but as a means to an end. For 
over fifty years he was the mighty 
pivot on which the nation's life and 
destiny revolved. He carried his peo- 
ple with him into every exalted view- 
point, egged them on, disrupted, 
united, knouted and loved them. He 
was the rock of despair of the evil- 
minded, and a sufficiently big piece of 
Norway alone to stand against all the 
others, if needed. His sympathies, too 
big for his own nation, are found, in- 
variably on the side of higher right- 
eousness and justice, from the iniqui- 
tous Danish — German war to the 
scandalous Dreyfuss affair, his shaggy 
mane waving at the head of the on- 
marching columns of moral victors. 

Of the many European writers that 
have visited America, none under- 
stood us as well, or at least wrote as 
ripely and appreciatingly about us 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 133 

as did Bjornson. It is especially A- 
merian womanhood he flatters in 
his later works. 

As in the golden age of Athens, so 
the literary tastes and requirements 
of the Norse are of such high stan- 
dard that in order to succeed as a 
writer at present, a Norwegian must 
be no ordinary master of the art. The 
galaxy of writers, headed by Hamsun, 
Garborg, Sivle and Aanrud, that 
cluster about the two main great 
luminaries, Ibsen and Bjornson — tho 
in themselves sufficiently meritorious 
to head the list of literary work- 
ers in most countries, are scarcely pa^d 
any attention to at home. 

What perhaps speaks most highly 
of the character of the Norse to-day 
is the fact that though they them- 
selves as a people are devoutly or- 
thodox, they never let this fact blind 
them in the matter of obtaining the 
greatest good from the works of such 
as have been known as " other- 



134 UTGARD. 

wise-thinking ' ' in the matter of reli- 
gious belief. This is so much more re- 
markable when we consider that only 
a generation ago, the narrowness of 
mind and religious intolerance was 
so pronounced as to maintain statu- 
tory provisions whereby Jews were 
barred from entering the realm. 



The first rays of the sun were break- 
ing over a scaur in the mountains al- 
most due north. By my watch it was 
not yet one. I began to retrace my 
steps to the parsonage grounds — as in 
a dream. I was getting aware of the 
morning breeze beginning to blow as. 
usual from the north-east. As I 
stopped to listen — impelled by I know 
not what — I was impressed by the 
moaning of the sea about the beach 

Soon also the forest of pines and 
birches were sighing in chorus about 
me. It brought to mind the fanciful 
tale of the mythical aerial "Riders of 



136 UTGARD. 

Aasgard ' ' — 

"The traveller throws himself 

prone in the road, 
"Woe, 'tis the din of the Aasgard 

riders — . ' ' 

Or, one might fancy with the more 
old-fashioned bonders, that the Hel- 
goe spirits, allowed certain liberties at 
night, were hastening home to rejoin 
their dust in the ancient necropolis 
"just as the first rays of the sun 
illumined the eastern windows of the 
old church" — muttering complainingly 
as they flit through the foliage 



As I approached the custodian's 
lodge through the garden, I was 
hailed by Dunny, running toward me 
in great excitement, arrayed in paja- 
mas and a cravenette. His eyes were 
stareing and he looked pale, wan and 
perturbed. He evidently had some dif- 
ficulty in pulling himself sufficiently 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 137 

together to talk. In a moment his 
condition changed to one of embar- 
rassment. 

1 'Where — where have you been all 
night? By the shadows of Tartarus! 
This place is haunted, or I am going 
crazy; feel my pulse." 

I humored him in this. Artists are 
queer beings. Their nervous system 
is not constructed like in common, 
every-day humans. 

'* I have been taking lessons in 
Norse", said I. Then, as I saw the 
distress in his face, I asked reassur- 
ingly if the blessed damosel had gotten 
on his nerves. 

"To-morrow I leave this island for 
good." said he. "I am tired of the 
frolic". 

Recalling the early part of the 
night, I said to him, "Do not let it 
worry you. You have heard the Night 
Carpenter. Now confess." 

" 'Formerly obscure, it now seems 
beclouded/ or how is it Ibsen says it 



138 UTGARD. 

in the scene of Peer and the Boygi 
The Night Carpenter, you say?" 

' ' When I said Night Carpenter, I wot 
whereof I speak", said I, "as I had 
an introduction to him last night. He 
was busy in the old carpenter shop 
a little before midnight, which fact 
goes to show that he is an imposter; 
as the real fellow, according to all 
laws governing in the premises, never 
works overtime, hence is not supposed 
to be seen or heard before the stroke 
of twelve. But I tell you who these 
ghosts of Helgoe are. They are not 
the dead but the living. I suspect the 
husmen." 

"B' Jove, is it possible?" 

"I expressed only a suspicion," 
said I. , 

After a pause I said : ' i Try this smok- 
er, it will steady your nerves. Now, 
let us sit down on this bench and talk 
it over. To leave in haste would be 
surrendering to the enemy. The wisest 
course to my mind lies in never letting 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 139 

on that we are affected by pseudo- 
phenomena of this sort." 

In the course of our conversation I 
told my friend what happened the 
evening before as recorded above, and 
I ultimately obtained from him his 
story which was as follows: — 

"I am not certain now that I was 
not dreaming/' said he. 

"I had just retired, fatigued after 
running around this holm. 

"By the way, I think I know every 
cow-path through these two forests. 
I was lying down ponying myself 
along in the scene of Peer and 
the Boyg, with Archer's transla- 
tion and just commencing to get 
very sleepy when my attention was 
drawn to the clatter of a galloping 
horse coming up the drive from the 
east bay. I remember it struck me as 
something unusual on this island, but 
not impossible. As the rider passed the 
church, its broad walls echoed back 
the hoof-beat with great force. Before 



140 UTGARD. 

I had reflected on the phenomenon a 
minute, the rider was reining up his 
horse somewhere in the neighborhood 
of the east entrance to the old parson- 
age mansion. A door was opened, 
after which for a moment, all was 
quiet and I thought there was an end 
of it. A song-thrush in the lindens 
jarred in just as I tried to listen for 
further indications of the doings of 
our nocturnal wanderer. However, 
this came immediately. There was an 
exchange of three or four curt remarks. 
I failed to understand the conversation. 
Thereupon the mysterious intruder as- 
cended the stairs. It was a heavy 
man's step, strong and determined, and 
the old stairs creaked under them. 
From the landing which is even with, 
and not far from the dormer-windows 
of the second story of the custodian's 
lodge (where we had our rooms) the 
nightly wanderer proceeded along the 
corridor. Then a door was opened in 
haste. One more step, then, after a 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 141 

moment's pause, I plainly heard the 
exclamation 'Thruda' or 'Gyda'. Tt 
was a voice vibrating with tender- 
ness and at the same time a fullness 
of a healthy manhood. Immediately 
thereupon came the sound of a dull, 
heavy, sickening crash followed by 
three or four quick steps. Then a cry as 
of a soul in despair rent the air. 
It was a long evanescent wail and the 
words Min Gud (my God). It either 
ended here or I am not aware of what 
followed. I am frank about it. Somehow 
a paralyzing terror was in my soul and 
beads of perspiration covered my brow. 
I was for a moment literally unable to 
move. A thought flitted through my 
brain that somehow I would be able to 
explain the phenomenon satisfactorily 
and cogently in the future and I almost 
laughed at myself, my credulity and 
my nervousness, such was my plight. 
Finally I was able to get to the window 
and look out. This gave me courage 
and eventually I put on my cravenette 



142 UTGARD. 

and ran out to meet you, seeing you 
coming in the garden/ ' 

"We will investigate this matter 5\t 
our leisure/ ' said I, "as I am unable to 
account for it otherwise than that you 
may have been dreaming. Now we must 
get some rest/' As we proceeded to 
our rooms I felt rather sorry for my 
friend with the artistic temperament. 



The next morning nobody but our- 
selves seemed the least disturbed. The 
custodian appeared the same hearty 
fellow as usual, as he met us at break- 
fast and as I looked at him I felt re- 
morseful for having suspected him of 
complicity in what I could not help 
but consider pranks on the part of the 
peasants. Discussions went high and 
we had a jolly time at table, as usual, 
forgetting at least the sting of our pre- 
vious night's experience. 

After breakfast there was a hasty 
consultation on our part to perfect 
plans of procedure. We determined 
not to appear to act hastily but to 



144 UTGARD. 

"make haste slowly" in getting away, 
as we had plans to visit sundry places 
before our return to America. 

In accordance with these plans we 
gained admittance one day to the old 
parsonage mansion proper with a defi- 
nite purpose in view. The effusively 
kind, old Ogot was interviewed as by 
chance. As we had calculated, she 
soon grew reminiscent and by express- 
ing curiosity, we were soon invited to 
inspect the apartments of the late 
reverend "herskab." The old lady 
knew the history of every room. The 
chambers, only a few of which were 
furnished, showed disinterestingly for- 
mal. One suite was reserved for his 
grace, the bishop of the Drontheim 
diocese when visiting the parish on 
his yearly tour of inspection as duly 
prescribed by Norwegian law. One 
suite was for the resident chaplain. 
The parson's study overlooked the 
church and the east bay — the "Bonder- 
vick." It had three windows and 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 145 

the door-sill was worn hollow from long 
usage. It was here that the parson 
met his parishioners privately and it 
was from the landing near by that he 
hurled the worst of them bodily — to set 
an example ; — with no regrets if a neck 
or a limb was broken in the descent. 
Of course that was some time ago, — 
before the time of the last parson or 
two. Ogot was not interested in these 
wild combats. She only sniffed 
and whimpered, the poor old soul, 
and looked miserable if we asked 
her questions, as she was "hard 
of hearing." 

"Here sat the Father, himself, most 
of the day," she said, "as punctual as 
the clock to his meals, God bless his 
soul, and now dead and gone, good 
thirty years.' ' A few more tears of 
reminiscent sentimentality on the part 
of the lachrymose lady and we were 
shown in turn the private rooms of 
the "herskab," the bonders' waiting 
room, library, nursery, where the Fa- 



146 UTGARD. 

ther picked out the candidates for eon- 
iirmation every first Monday atter 
Easter, and rooms for all occasions and 
purposes and in all colors, some fur- 
nished and orderly, as stated, for 
special occasions of state, some vacant, 
but mostly with an odor of dust and 
decay. 

There were certain rooms on the 
second floor which according to our 
plans we had a particular desire to in- 
spect. These the old lady said were 
used only for storage and had never 
been opened the years she had been in 
the service of the last prests. So, 
after our inspection, the building was 
closed and locked up again and we ac- 
companied the lady to the custodian's 
lodge where we dismissed her with a 
suitable reward. However, we had 
taken the precaution to withdraw the 
Ibar of a back door unnoticed by our 
chaperone so that we could make fur- 
ther investigation — and verify sundry 
suspicions — at our leisure. All of 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 147 

these things we planned and talked 
about in English, which Ogot did not 
understand, while she was lecturing to 
us in Norse. To us it was a case of the 
end justifying the means. 



The evening of the day we were 
shown the parsonage by Ogot, we spent 
considerable time with the peasants 
who sat smoking and story-telling on 
and about the approach to the large 
driveway into the main barn. We 
knew just how many men were em- 
ployed on the island that day and we 
kept tally in case of manifestations un- 
explainable according to the science 
of matter. We had earlier that day 
journeyed to the land-handler, or 
country-shop, across the sound where 
we stocked up on choice chewing to- 
bacco and strong cigars, with which 
to regale the crowd, whereas we ex- 



150 UTGARD. 

pected to need their friendship and 
help in carrying out certain plans. The 
older men were to be depended on as 
friends but we did not trust the young- 
er ones for sundry reasons. Young 
Vikings of to-day like the sea-wolves 
of eld hatch plans among them for 
mischief and romance, and go on 
lengthy excursions in the quiet of 
night to execute them. It is born and 
bred in them, and is chargeable not so 
much to ignoble motives as to exu- 
berance of life and a spirit of wanton- 
ness and frolic. In the States, wherever 
the Norse are maintaining old country 
idealities, this custom of going on 
inconceivable yet innocent rampage — 
is well known. And that night we had 
evidence of more of it. Old Aslak was 
telling some experiences of his youth, 
which adventures, he evidently con- 
sidered a representative chapter of 
his life's Magnum Opus. 

"The bear-scare had seized the peo- 
ple of Thorvik-bygd one fall," said he, 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 151 

just as the grain was being sheared. 
The soft earth about the sheep-stalls 
had repeatedly shown in the morning 
that Bruin had snoozed around there 
in the night, which goes to show that 
he was driven down from the moun- 
tains by hunger of no common degree. 
In this condition he would not hesitate 
to tackle big cattle or even people. 
Some of the grain-eating bears had 
done damage to the sheaves, a matter 
which the farmers that particular year 
could not well afford. Those days 
there was a peasant by the name of 
Hans Jerdet, who held land under the 
Thorvik estates and who went under 
the names of "Ferdy" and "Korkje," 
which were by-words with him. Whom- 
ever he met, it was constantly: 'Fine 
day to-day, ferdy/ or 'Nasty weather 
this, korkje'. The by-words were mut- 
terings, half to himself and half to the 
one he talked to. He was a character 
known widely those days and also 
the butt of mischief-makers, who came 



152 UTGARD. 

lor miles to pester him. 

"His little cottage of three rooms, his 
barn and patches of oat-fields lay high- 
er up the slope than the larger farms, 
consequently further in the forest and 
nearer the fells. Therefore, he was 
one of the first visited by the bears. 
And on this account he suffered much 
annoyance, as the boys would stop him 
in his work, beckon him to come nearer, 
which, if he did — and it seems he us- 
ually did — he had a chance to regret 
as the question invariably would be 
* Killed any bears lately, Hans?' 

"By the way, Ferdy had a wife, Alet, 
and a daughter, Berrit. He also had 
a son. But the son turned out bad, 
and Ferdy disowned him altogether 
after the boy married a gypsy wench 
and started tramping with her and her 
relations. Ferdy even insisted Haldur 
— that was the son — was a changeling. 
-He explained how one Christmas eve, 
when the boy was a month or two old 
he went out to the barn to give the 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 153 

'creatures' their last feeding of hay, 
which was an extra one for the holi- 
day. Times were hard and Berrit was 
working at Thorvik. He had been in the 
barn only a moment when he was aware 
that the Hulder-folks were busy about 
the premises. For one thing the hay- 
pull was gone. That was a spear- 
shaped stick used to extract hay from 
the hard mow in the loft above. Ferdy 
was a firm believer in and a friend of 
the hulder. He therefore suspected 
that things were not right in the house 
— whither he consequently hastened 
and found — instead of his own child — 
a brat of about the same age wrapped 
in the worst imaginable rags. What 
did Ferdy in all his hulder-wis- 
dom do but open the stove-door and 
swing the changeling as though he 
was about to hurl it into the flames. 
But just as he made the last great 
swing with his long arms toward the 
open door of the stove — out went the 
fire with a ' rushing noise,' while 



154 UTGARD. 

much tittering and laughing were 
heard in the darkness around. Then 
Ferdy felt sure he was appoint- 
ed to bring up a changeling— 
which appointment he did not dare — 
for his life — not to fill to the best of 
his ability. So Haldur was called a 
Hulder-brat both at home and at school 
and it is no wonder he turned out bad. 
"Now, when the bear-scare was agi- 
tating the people, Ferdy spent most of 
his nights on the big flat stone in front 
of his door, beating a big spade with 
a hammer. Tho ? never afraid of the 
Hulder, the mere suspicion of bears un- 
manned Ferdy completely. Due to this 
chicken-heartedness it was often said of 
him he was 'no Norseman'. So one 
evening four of us young chaps planned 
to have some fun at Ferdy 's expense. 
We had been rather quiet for some 
time and looked forward to an all 
night of it. This time of the year it is 
dark as pitch, and we could locate 
one another only by the voice. How- 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 155 

ever, we found the way across the 
mountains to Ferdy 's place. There he 
stood banging away at his spade while 
Alet stood near enough to render moral 
succor in his distress. We went right 
down to his boat house, broke in, took 
his boat and carried it all the way up 
the lea and deposited it upside down 
in the middle of his largest barley- 
field. Of course, just as the moon was 
about to rise that night, Ferdy saw 
what looked like a bear in his field. 
Down came the old flint-lock and while 
Alet held him about the waist from be- 
hind to steady his failing knees, he 
succeeded at length in shooting several 
holes through his boat before he got 
on to our little joke. For in his 
younger days, Ferdy had been not a 
bad shot. He served in the war of 
1814 under Lieutenant-Colonel Krebs 
at Matrand at the time Norway was 
forced by Napoleon and Charles John 
into the objectionable Scandinavian 



156 UTGARD. 

union, now set at naught by the treaty 
of Karlstad of 1905. 

' w But before we returned home that 
night we had other experiences that 
were not so jolly. After our work of 
carrying Ferdy's boat such a long way, 
we were both hungry and thirsty and 
on a farm where we were acquainted 
we went into a stabur or store-house 
?nd helped ourselves to both food and 
drink. We had emptied our pocket 
flasks by this time and were not par- 
ticular just how it tasted in the dark, 
so long as we knew it was food, for 
we had a long way home. We had 
some milk that tasted rather oddly, but 
it was the only thing to be found to 
slake our big thirst, so we dipped our 
mouths into the big flat wooden 
ringers and had our fill. On our way 
cut, close by a tiny window where the 
moon shone in brightly, one of the 
boys stumbled against a little bed-cot 
with some force. And horrors, what 
do you think happened? Up into the 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 157 

full glare of the moon-light rose slowly 
the withered, grinning face of an old 
legd-woman, who had died some days 
before. Now, a legd-woman is one who 
is given public charity in the nature 
of food and lodging for a prescribed 
number of days at assigned farms. We 
were not slow to rush out into the open 
as best we could. And what do you 
think happened then? Why, each 
found the faces of the others covered 
with blood. We were a pretty badly 
scared lot then, you may be sure. We 
were so mortally frightened by this 
incomprehensible sight — even though I 
say so myself — that we were sobered 
by it. Afterwards it came to light that 
we had been drinking fresh blood from 
cattle that had been slaughtered for 
the grave-ale over the old legd-woman. 
And as this had been deposited in wide, 
flat milk-ringers, we had stuck our 
noses into it, unsteady as we were, 
while drinking and somehow wiped the 
blood over our faces." 



158 UTGARD. 

"And how do you account for the 
body of the legd-woman sitting up in 
the stabur?" — was asked. 

"Old legd-Berritt had died in a sit- 
ting posture, and was so bent up with 
old age and rheumatiz that the body 
had to be put in splints to lie down 
straight in the casket. In this frame 
of splints the body was left for a num- 
ber of days in the stabur and it was 
against this that one of us stumbled 
and knocked apart, so that the old 
lady what you may call 'followed 
her natural bent' and sat up." 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 159 



We waited some time after Aslak 
had finished his story — that is after 
midnight — for repetition of the oper- 
ations of the mysterious Night Carpen- 
ter. But nothing happened. As the 
men retired for the night, we kept an 
eye on their quarters. Then as all was 
still we proceeded very quietly to the 
parsonage mansion proper which we 
entered through the unbolted door. 
The night being as light as day, we 
had no difficulty in finding the rooms 
on the second floor east of the corridor, 
where we aimed to make investiga- 
tions. These rooms, according to Ogot, 
were used for storage purposes, if used 



160 UTGARD. 

at all. She had also mentioned that 
an accident had happened there long 
ago of such a nature as to make every- 
body shun them. To make our work 
more safe, we had padded our shoes, 
and felt that we had nothing to fear 
by way of detection as all the people 
on the island were hearty sleepers. 
However, the doors of the room we had 
come to examine, were securely locked. 
With no means at our disposal to open 
them except force — which would have 
attracted attention — we were com- 
pelled to suspend operations until we 
could devise a more effective plan. 

On the next day our little circle was 
increased by a Docent Johansen of the 
Christiania university, who had come 
tc Helgoe in the interest of the Royal 
Society of Archaeic Research. We ac- 
companied the learned professor to a 
bracken in the pine woods where large 
rocks appeared in some sort of order 
as if arranged by human hands. This 
was the sacred grove of the pagan 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 161 

bonders and the stones represented the 
foundation of the hov booth. The Do- 
eent lectured very interestingly as be 
examined his drawings and notes. 
Here then, the pagan Romsdalers 
gathered to invoke the aid of the Val- 
halla gods against the schemes of the 
evil-minded Vets. In the minds of the 
ancient people, the Dead and the Trolls 
were never able to enter the grove, but. 
were doomed to the darkness without 
the stockade. The temples were invar- 
iably built so as to point north and 
south. In the side wing, which the 
Docent staked off, representing the 
Holy of Holies, the images of the deities 
rested on benches; those of Thor and 
Woden in the middle. On the 'stalli' 
or altar in the middle lay the holy ring. 
Here also all the oaths were made while 
the gode or priest wore the ring on his 
arm, which he also did during services,. 
councils and " tings." As in Rome so 
also the Vikings maintained a sacred 
fire, which, if once extinct, could be re- 



162 UTGARD. 

lit only from another fylkis-hov. The 
sacrificial rites consisted of slaying of 
the animal before the full view of the 
people. During these rites the men sat 
on lengthwise benches, which had a 
throne in the middle for the prominent 
men of the parish — who had distin- 
guished themselves in warring on 
foreign princes and had carried the 
most plunder into the home valley. 
"In this we see," remarked the Docent 
spicily, "a prototype of the present 
prominent member of the board of 
deacons and the loud-mouthed individ- 
ual in the amen corner.' ' This is all 
the attempt at caste found among the 
Vikings. There were serfs, it is true, 
but these were foreigners captured in 
battle or native criminals. From this 
throne the men sat outward in order 
of rank as Viking chieftains. 

The cross benches were for women 
who were always held in high esteem 
and great respect, wherein lies the 
source of greatness and superior 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 163 

gtrength of these Norse sea-wolves. 
The blood of the animal was collected 
and with it the congregation was 
stained, as were the images of the 
gods, the walls and doorcases of the 
temples, — the same as with the old tes- 
tament Hebrews. The meat was cooked 
in great kettles and eaten with soup 
and ale. Afterwards more mead and 
ale were drunk. The walls were hung 
with rich curtains and tapestry with 
woven figures representing scenes from 
the sagas. There were also graven 
images of the gods. By the door were 
big casks of ale, from which horns and 
beakers were filled, so that these an- 
cient people had a pretty pleasant time 
during worship and only very urgent 
matters kept them at home during tha 
services. Across the fires, burning in 
long rows, the skaals were drunk. It 
is little to be wondered at that these 
Vikings were very loath to give up 
their form of worship, which is yet 
counted as one of the seven great re- 



164 UTGARD. 

ligions of the world. In Normandy, 
the Valhalla gods were clung to by im- 
migrated Vikings and their descendants 
as late as the 13th century and in the 
midst of established Christianity. Some 
writer has said that the Asa-faith 
" ranks ethically higher than the car- 
nal religion of the Greeks and Ro- 
mans/' — that it was a sort of ethical 
constitution and inspiration which 
aided at least greatly in building up 
much of the character found in the in- 
domitable Norse. 

It was Gauka Thorer who said: "We 
be neither heathens nor Christians. We 
have faith in nothing except ourselves 
and the strength of our arms and luck 
of victory. And with this faith we 
slip through sufficiently well," a sen- 
timent not necessarily to be admired, 
but which shows the self-reliance of, 
these people. 

The soil of Norway is not rich, and 
the people to succeed must economize. 
We see this national spirit of economy 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 165 

reflected in their religion in the ease 
of Ymir's death. Not only the norms! 
members of the body were used, but 
even the maggots, which turned into 
dwarfs, skilled and cunning creatures, 
though spiteful and sullen. 



Later that day we accompanied the 
Doeent to the church, where we in- 
spected among other things the ancient 
weapon-shed, standing before its en- 
trance. Here the worshippers deposit- 
ed their battle-axes, cross-bow^s, swords 
and spears as they passed in. Part 
of the ceiling had been removed dis- 
playing the chopped-up rafters. It was 
the custom to hurl the swords and axes 
into the rafters so that they required 
considerable strength to be extracted 
when wanted after the services. As 
may be expected it came occasionally 
to quarrels and bloodshed when the 



1 68 UTGARD. 

men thronged about this shed to get 
their weapons. 

From the weapon-shed we entered 
the church proper — one spacious room 
with half-lofts and connecting sacris- 
ty. The window openings showed a 
wall of masonry four feet thick. As 
these were slanted to admit light the 
whole had the clumsy appearance of 
a fortification. The wooden floor about 
the communion rail was worn hollow 
with the feet of penitents. The 
sacristy showed blank without the 
vestments, books and sacred vessels. 
Behind the altar, inclined against a 
corner stood several halberds with dust- 
covered ropes and tassels. 

More interesting however were the 
slabs of soap-stone or iron laid in the 
floor, raised into parapets along the 
walls, or heaped in the corners of the 
sacristy. These had originally de- 
corated graves and bore inscriptions in 
Norse, Old-Norse or Latin. In the 
course of time the graves these slabs 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 169 

once represented had been made to ac- 
comodate other tenants. One of the 
slabs bore the following Latin inscrip- 
tion : — 

In Memoriam 
Hie Jacet Hare Occidentalis 
Sive Manu Fortis 
Generis Nobile Vir 
Sacerdos Helgoensis 
MDCCCI-MDCCCXIII 
Non Fugitis 

One of the peasants by the name of 
Thorstein who had been sent along to 
open the door and answer questions, 
winked his eye at us as we examined 
it. " There are many people look- 
ing at that stone," he said. "My 
grandfather, who 'served' on the island 
as a boy says it is about a preacher 
who was a sort of wild chap and had 
much trouble with the bonders. It is 
even said of him that he has been seen 
and heard about the parsonage after 
his death.' ' 



170 UTGARD. 

That evening we resumed our in- 
vestigations in the ancient parsonage 
mansion and succeeded in prying open 
a window from a small balcony, there- 
by gaining access to the rooms whence, 
according to our calculation eman- 
ated the noises that had startled Dunny 
some nights previously. Heavy cur- 
tains partially covered with a layer of 
dust that hung in threads everywhere 
— screened the windows. It was only 
by holding these aside that we were 
able to have some little light enter the 
rooms. The three connecting rooms 
were quite bare of furniture and the 
heavy dust on the floor had evidently 
not been stirred for some generations. 
It felt mealy under foot. There was, 
therefore, no ground for suspecting the 
younger peasants of having entered 
these rooms. Nor was there any clue 
to the rumored mysterious accident. As 
we moved about, we came upon the on- 
ly article in the room beside the 
curtains. This stood in a corner of 



HISTORIC HELGOE. 171 

the smallest of the rooms as if for- 
gotten by the movers, or — as it was 
rather too large an object to be acci- 
dentally overlooked, — it might have 
been left in this out of the way place 
intentionally. 

Scooping aside the dust that covered 
it with our hands, we found it to be 
a huge chest, such as we have since 
learned were used by navigators in the 
18th and first part of the 19th cen- 
turies and perhaps earlier. It had cur- 
iously carved sides and lid. The edges 
of the lock-plate and the huge hinges 
that projected forward over the lid 
were wrought into curling, twisting, 
whimsical arabesques. It likewise had 
strong iron bands that enclosed the 
sunken carved pannels of various 
sizes. As we stood by it, it reached to 
our elbows in height and must have 
required several men to carry when 
packed. Having inspected its exterior, 
I raised the lid to where it leaned 
against the wall. I was about to stoop 



172 UTGARD. 

down and investigate its interior when 
Dunny, who was going to the window 
to try to obtain more light, thereby 
caused the boards of the floor to yield 
to his weight. For a moment I be- 
held the heavy lid wavering in equi- 
poise, then it fell back in place with 
a loud bang that startled us. We 
realized that had the lid fallen when 
a person was stooping over examining 
the inside, there might have resulted 
a serious accident, — possibly a decap- 
itation. Summoning up our courage 
we again lifted the heavy lid, Dunny 
holding it in position while I stuck my 
hand into the corners and found it 
empty except for what apparently was 
a collection of light fabrics now turned 
partially to dust. 



The following days — before we ef- 
fected our final departure from Hel- 
goe — we discussed this subject, neither 
of us being willing to accept the pos- 
sibility of " spectral noises.' ' In one 
of the literary reviews that came to 
the custodian's library, there was an 
extract of the reports of the London 
Dialectical Society, Sir John Lubbock, 
pres. Here was a body of scholars and 
scientists of renown, with the avowed 
purpose of investigating such subjects 
as "Are the Dead Alive?" etc., subjects 
that to both of us had always looked 
absurd. Such leading scientists as 
Flammarion, Prof. Pio Foa and Lorn- 



174 UTGARD. 

broso of Turin and Oliver Lodge of 
England were quoted in defence of 
their findings as published by Sir Win. 
Crookes, one clause of which is as 
follows : — 

"It is established on the part of the 
London Dialectical Society (after close 
and lengthy investigation) that sounds 
of varied character, apparently pro- 
ceeding from articles of furniture — 
floor, walls of a room, etc., (the vibra- 
tions accompanying which sounds are 
distinctly perceptible to touch) occur 
without being produced by muscular 
action or mechanical contrivance." 

However, the facts as found having 
been stated, the reader will draw 
proper conclusions. The writer has no 
interest in — -nor is it his intention to 
establish claims for or against the 
quasi-science of occultism. 



Harold Hardgrip. 



As the year's eider ducklings were 
given their first lessons in swimming 
by their solicitous mothers about its 
shores — we bade adieu to Helgoe — 
sacred in memory, taking a very hearty 
leave of our host and his household. 
It was towards the end of the short 
Northern season and already famt 
traces of yellow and red showed in the 
birch copse. The blush of the heather 
on the fells was more bronzed with 
less of the green but more of the gold 
of Napoleon. 

At the suggestion of Thorstein, the 
husman, we had arranged to call on 
his sire, Hans, in the Rodvenfjord. His 



176 UTGARD. 

homestead was in a side-valley a short 
distance from our first relay-station. 

As we rounded the point of Aastad, 
where we entered the Rodvenfjord 
proper, the mountains we knew and 
had come to love so well — at once 
changed in appearance as by the stroke 
of a magician's wand. 

Fresh, deep rust-colored streaks 
down the southern side of the Ox 
indicated recent land-slides. If a farm- 
gard happens to be in the path of 
these terrible, thundering masses of 
earth and rocks as they whizz down- 
ward — if any member survives by 
some miracle, he soon starts clearing 
a site for a new home close by — to live 
the same life of jeopardy yet — never 
of anxiety. 

In the course of the afternoon we 
arrived at the gard of crustaceous old 
Hans Houg of that ilk, the sage of 
Romsdal. We presented ourselves with 
greetings from Thorstein together with 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 177 

what reverence was due his position 
according to the custom of the land, — 
and that is how we ultimately obtained 
what is considered by certain people 
of the valley to be a correct and satis- 
factory solution of our mystery of HeJ- 
goe. 



After having made our offerings and 
libations to show sincerity of purpose, 
we were received gracefully by Hans 
and invited to take a seat under the 
spreading pines that overshadowed his 
cottage. These pines formed the tat- 
tered and irregular fringes of the great 
body of the forest stretching in front 
and below us, in the bottom of the val- 
ley and up on the other side. The 
house and lawn were enclosed by a 
stone fence, where numerous wild rose- 
bushes clamored for a foothold. 
Roundabout on the ground lay scat- 
tered pink petals, while the hips still 
hung red and full among the leaves. 



180 UTGARD. 

Through the open windows we could 
see the shiny, white floor of hard-pine 
boards — strewn, as custom is, with tiny 
tops of juniper bushes, the aroma of 
which is at the same time pleasant and 
salubrious. The unpainted window 
casings were of the same snowy white 
hue, telling of industrious feminine 
hands. 

"You see/ 7 said Hans, after we had 
talked awhile, and were coming to the 
subject uppermost in our minds, "man 
has his origin in two elements, just like 
the mythological ash-tree Yggdrasil. 
The one is the home of Evil and the 
other the abode of Good. We all de- 
velop as we live — from both of these 
sources; yet few equally from each, 
still nobody from one alone to the total 
exclusion of the other. ' ' 

After looking for a moment over the 
tops of the pines below and in silence 
unbroken — as in a sanctuary — he con- 
tinued : 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 181 

"The Norns spin the life-thread of 
some men with such special art that 
gled. r £here are men of such large phy- 
r their c&reers are thereby greatly entan- 
\sical proportion^ that they are unable to 
procure ready-made apparel of suffi- 
cient size to fit them. These men are 
handicapped, particularly if poor. The 
unscrupulous dealer in clothes tries 
to adjust the unfortunate man's 
form to what garments he may 
have in stock, instead of going 
to the trouble of altering the garments. 
It is cheaper thus. But the worst of it 
is that these men have it dinned into 
them early and late that their heads, 
feet or forms are 'too big*. 
Likewise there are men of such large 
mental status, that failing to have our 
small estimates and measures fit them 
we get a habit of looking on them with 
a certain feeling of ill-will and moral 
disdain. If these Intenser Natures, 
for reasons unknown, choose to display 
what we call a weak side, we seize on 



182 UTGARD. 

these apparent loop-holes in their char- 
acter to destroy them, forgetting to 
look on them as entities composed of 
many varied parts. One such character 
is Ibsen's Masterbuilder, who found a 
sort of salutary self-torture in letting 
his wife do him an injustice." 

With the above as a moral preamble, 
we were later told by Hans in brief 
the following suppressed details of the 
life of the Helgoe parson, Harold von 
Westen — Hare Occidentalis of the 
Latin inscription — together with their 
historic background. 



11 Considered as an entity, then," 
said Hans, "Harold Prest was a man of 
courage which yet goes for much with 
us bonders. The good old types of 
former days are fast dying out and 
disappearing. These days people do 
nothing but talk, whereby the race is 
degenerated and weakened. Now as tQ> 
Harold Prest, Romsdal owes much to 
him. It is due to him that the census 
shows greater intellectuality here than, 
in any other rural parish in the king- 
dom. He organized reading circles, 
sanger-fests and i stev-gildes 9 or im- 
provisation contests. The land was 
waking after its long slumber lasting 



184 UTGARD. 

from the time Monkish Latin quelled 
our literary power of scaldic days. The 
people of those days were compara- 
tively ignorant and consequently super- 
stitious. By royal decree the religion 
of Luther had been ordered into effect 
in 1536. Gervinus tells us that with 
most people this was like exchanging 
outer garments. The priest of Rome 
resigned himself with little effort to 
the new order of things forswearing 
forever the Vatican and everything 
with it connected. Instances, however, 
are on record where priests clinging 
tenaceously to their Mesale Romanuni 
were driven out of the parsonages to 
seek refuge in mountain caves difficult 
of access, where they continued to 
worship according to their old faith. 
In some valleys the people rose ineffec- 
tively against the churchly innovation, 
"very much as had their ancestors 
against St. Olaf introducing Christian- 
ity five centuries earlier. 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 185 

"The Nineteenth century was open- 
ing inauspiciously for Scandinavia as 
it was for other countries of Europe. 
In London there were the bread-riots. 
In France and Germany famine and 
wars followed in the wake of the 
great Corsican comet. In 1801 a Brit- 
ish fleet allowed the joint courts of 
Denmark and Norway 48 hours in 
which to withdraw from the Northern 
Maritime League, organized to oppose 
British tyranny on the high seas. 4 
month later the Battle of Copenha- 
gen was fought and won by the one- 
armed, half-blind Admiral Nelson. A. 
protracted truce followed. 

"At this time Norway was held in 
bondage by Denmark, queer as this 
seems to us to-day. We had no univer- 
sity. Our parsons came from Denmark 
and were at times selfish, impious, ty- 
ranous autocrats with no ability, no 
decency and no heart. 

"Thus came to the Helgoe parsonage 
soon after the Battle of Copenhagen — 



186 UTGARD. 

and as a result of it, one of those Dan- 
ish prests that were forced on us by 
royal appointment. The "von" indi- 
cates aristocracy and it was said lie 
sought and obtained this distant parish 
because he wished to forget sundry 
matters that disgraced his country, of 
which he was a nobleman of no mean 
rank. Those days it was not a require- 
ment, per se, to have graduated in 
theology to fill the position of Norse 
prest. 

"Harold von Westen brought with 
him only one piece of luggage to Hel- 
goe, a heavy, iron-bound sailor's chest, 
large enough to live in, if necessary. 
During the last decade the parish had 
been without a parson and it was with 
much concern to our great-grand-fa- 
thers that the rumor spread that a new 
parson had arrived at Helgoe. The 
last one had been whipped like a bad 
boy by a clan of bonders and had taken 
his leave without the formality of say- 
ing good-bye. News did not travel fast 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 187 

ttose days and it took a year or more 
before the Department at Copenhagen 
was aware of the true state of affairs 
at Helgoe. There are still people in 
the valley who hear their great-grand 
parents tell of those hard and wicked 
times. Truly the world is growing bet- 
ter here in Romsdal, as sure as I am 
alive. 

"As to the new parson, — a delega- 
tion was ordered to spy on him and 
report. In the dark of the night they 
raised ladders outside his study-win- 
dows to observe his habits and doings. 
When it was found that he was pro- 
ducing dense clouds of smoke from a 
long pipe, this was reported as in the 
young parson's favor. 

"On one occasion, during his first 
years at Helgoe, offensive remarks were 
cast at him as he passed through a 
flock of bonders that had tasted too 
often or too long of their pocket flasks 
of brandy -wine. The prest was on his 
way to church to read the text on a 



188 UTGARD. 

Sunday. He stopped as he heard the 
words, took off his sacred vestments 
which he flung aside together with 
his mess-book. Thereupon he seized 
the offensive bonders and tossed 
them, one after the other, over 
the stone-wall into the cemetery. 
i There liest the Parson', said be 
pointing to the books and vest- 
ments on the ground — addressing the 
congregation — 'and here before you 
stands Harold the Soldier, which one of 
us prefer you?' 

1 l Then turning to the surprised 
bonders who tried to get on their feet 
between the graves, he said, 'Now rot 
there you carrions, for there you be- 
long — you stench in God's nostrils/ 

"From that day he was held more in 
respect by the bonders, although his 
respect for the bonders was never very 
great — to his dying day. 

"In stormy weather he refused to 
cross the sound to administer the 
sacraments to the sick and dying, for 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 18& 

many of his predecessors had in this 
way found a wet grave. 

" 'Let the dogs die' he is quoted .as 
saying, 'they will never know the dif- 
ference, and the parish is the better oflT 
which was not a very nice thing to say 
for a prest. 

"As to the charge that he held nea- 
logistic views, there is less ground for 
this, for Harold was not well versed 
in theology, yet he could mess so well 
with his deep bass voice that old wo- 
men wept when they heard him. 

"One Summer he disappeared from 
Helgoe, and it was thought that the 
parish was once more to see a change 
in the pastoral incumbency. But that 
was not to be. In less than a year 
Harold was back and had a young Mrs. 
Parson with him. She was a Southern 
lady, dark-skinned and black-eyed, such 
as none had ever seen in these parts. 
It was rumored among the bonders that 
she was no Christian lady, at least not 
Lutheran as was commanded by the 



190 UTGARD. 

king. Thus the strained relations be- 
tween the pastor and his flock was not 
improved. The bonders were hard- 
headed and the pastor was unyielding. 
On more than one occasion were depu- 
tations of bonders thrown bodily in a 
heap at the bottom of the stairs leading 
from the pastor's study. That accounts 
for his subriquet of ; Hardgreipr that is 
hard-grip (Mann Portia of the Latin 
inscription). 

"The new mistress of the parsonage 
never appeared at church, a matter 
that aroused the bonders' ire. It was 
the same as saying to them: 'I do not 
want my precious, outlandish wife to 
mix with you bonder-dogs even at 
prayer. ' Then the rumor grew that she 
was a Catholic and a Catholic to a bond- 
er is something pretty bad. The real 
reason was perhaps that she was afraid 
to pass through the throngs of bonders 
that gathered thickly about the church 
on meeting days, not only before and 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 191 

after the services but during them as 
well. 

"Unmerciful in his chastisement and 
reproaches and promising the refrac- 
tious a vengeful fate from Heaven, it 
came to a crisis when famine in 1808 
to 1812 struck the land. The bonders 
subsisted on bark-bread at the same 
time as they had war with Sweden in 
the last year or two of the famine. 
There were those that connected in 
their ignorance Pastor Harold with the 
hard times; that he had summoned 
famine from God to chastice the wicked 
people of the parish. Supervision was 
lax and it was seldom that the bonders 
could lay their charges before the bish- 
op, as this dignitary did not come to 
Helgoe oftener than once in three or 
four years. And even bishops and 
prests were not always very zealous 
followers of Christ but some of them 
addicted to all the vices on the calen- 
dar, especially, perhaps, to the use of 
liquors. One of the worst instances 



192 UTGARD. 

was the parson of Haaland parish. 

1 ' Hr. Christian of Haaland, as he was 
known, allowed drunkenness to inter- 
fere with the duties of his office to such 
a degree that he was hailed before the 
"Domskapittel" three times for not 
celebrating mass on the prescribed 
days. The first time he was fined three 
dollars of the realm; the second time, 
which was two years after the first, he 
was fined six; and the third time, one 
year after the second, he was dismissed 
from office. 

"Yet there was no charge of drunk- 
enness against Harold. With some of 
the better families of the parish he 
stood well for he was not a bad man 
to those that knew him well and treated 
him right. Finally the thread of his 
destiny lead to the fatal crisis, which 
came as follows and is quickly told. 

"It was the time Romsdal was visited 
by the worst storm in its history. It 
commenced on the fifth day of August. 
The rain fell in sheets. The rivers, es- 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 193 

pecially the Saetre, Sylle and Skorg 
grew to a point where they filled the 
greater part of the valley. Querns, 
bridges, residences and lumber mills 
were washed down into the fjord to- 
gether with people, cattle and trees 
torn up with root. Where the river- 
bed was of rock, there the large boul- 
ders that were washed down from the 
high-fells made a noise like thunder. 
The forest was cleared so that the fjord 
looked like a moor or bog strewn with 
bushes. Besides the rivers doing great 
damage directly, the rain loosened the 
soft earth and gravel on the mountains, 
causing terrible land-slides that washed 
whole valley-sides into the fjord. 

"Having held services at Vaage, an 
annex parish, Hr. Harold was there 
delayed by the storm. When there was 
no cessation after two days he ordered 
his men to get ready to take him back 
to Helgoe. After a consultation, the 
men refused thus to ' tempt their mak- 
er'. 



194 UTGARD. 

"Now, when the bonders refused to 
return to Helgoe, Hr. Harold launched 
a f erring and set out alone, drifting 
with the storm eastward until he land- 
ed at Helgoe at its most distant point 
from the parsonage. It was a daring 
piece of work which might have turned 
out bad only for the parson's prowess. 

"Arriving on the island he found the 
parsonage herd of horses grazing near- 
by, and mounting one of the animals, 
he rode to the parsonage coming up by 
the way of the east bay. At the mo- 
ment he entered their rooms on the 
second floor, Mrs. von Westen, who did 
not expect her husband, was busy ar- 
ranging certain small garments in the 
big chest, as custom was in those days. 

"As the parson entered stealthily as 
if to cause his wife a pleasant surprise, 
the boards of the floor yielded to his 
great weight, thereby causing the hea- 
vy iron-bound lid to fall — decapitating 
the young woman before his eyes. 



HAROLD HARDGRIP. 195 

"In his immense sorrow, a veritable 
Berserker rage came over the parson, 
blunting his perceptibilities. He dis- 
charged the servants and refused to 
let any of them touch the in- 
animate body with their coarse, 
peasant hands, — cursing them as they 
cowered before him, likewise curs- 
ing their fathers and mothers, the 
other bonders of the parish, the husmen 
and the whole country, ending with 
forcing the servants to leave the island 
in the same reckless manner that he 
himself that same day had come to it. 
After some days, he set to work and 
fashioned a casket with his own hands, 
having learned the use of carpenter's 
tools in the Danish navy. Likewise, 
it is thought that he dug the grave with 
his own hands and personally placed 
his wife's body in it. After that no- 
body ever saw or heard of Harold von 
Westen in these parts. After many 
years, friends raised the tablet with the 
Latin inscription in the Helgoe 
church". 



CCT 3 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



Hr 3 \9U 



